Mad Max spinoff 'Furiosa' lands Anya Taylor-Joy; plus Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

George Miller's much-anticipated Furiosa spinoff film has finally found its heroine. Variety reports that Anya Taylor-Joy, best known to genre fans for films like Split and this year's The New Mutants, has been cast in the title role originated by Charlize Theron in the Oscar-winning blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road back in 2015.

Taylor-Joy is a talented actress whose star has been on the rise for a few years now, and who seems on the verge of superstardom, so she's a great catch for Miller and his team, but she's not actually the biggest name to join the film. Miller has also reportedly cast Thor: Ragnarok star Chris Hemsworth and Aquaman and Watchmen star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in still-undisclosed roles for the prequel film. As The Hollywood Reporter points out, Furiosa has not technically been greenlit at this point, but Miller's filmmaking prowess has landed him a trio of stars that seems poised to change that very soon.

During the long development process for Fury Road, Miller crafted detailed backstories for several major characters within the film's mythology, including Furiosa, and talked openly about wanting to make a spinoff film starring his heroine, at one point even considering de-aging Theron herself to play the role. At the time we meet her, she's a warrior serving under the tyrannical rule of Immortan Joe who decides to break with her master's wishes and steal away his enslaved wives so they can have a better life, which ultimately leads her to team up with "Mad" Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) in the film. It's a compelling journey, but apart from certain hints laced into Fury Road's narrative, we don't know how Furiosa actually got to that point. This film, focusing on a younger Furiosa, is set to fill us in.

Taylor-Joy broke out the same year Fury Road was released when she starred in Robert Eggers' acclaimed period horror debut The Witch, and has since landed roles in M. Night Shyamalan Unbreakable spinoffs Split and Glass, Autumn de Wilde's acclaimed adaptation of Emma, and of course this year's New Mutants, in which she played Illyana Rasputin.

She was rumored to be in the running for Furiosa a few months ago, and now Miller has apparently made his final decision. With this role, she's poised to go from genre star to action epic superstar if Miller has his way, and considering what he was able to achieve alongside Theron with the first outing for Furiosa, we can't wait to see how it turns out.

It's unclear at this point when Furiosa could actually begin production, but now that the leads are in place we'll hopefully hear more very soon.