Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga brought viewers back to the Wasteland to show us the painful road that led her to become an Imperator. But Furiosa wasn’t the only character from Mad Max: Fury Road to appear in the prequel. Plenty of other important figures from George Miller’s seminal action film also returned for his new entry. What other familiar faces made the trip back with the film’s namesake? These are the important Fury Road characters who also starred in Furiosa.
Immortan Joe
The Citadel leader wasn’t a major character in Furiosa, but he was still an important one. The main villain of Fury Road was an uneasy associate and rival of Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus.
While Immortan Joe looked the same he sounded different. That’s because Lachy Hulme played the younger version of the character. He replaced the late Hugh Keays-Byrne in the role. The Mad Max stalwart (Keays-Byrne was also the villain in the original 1979 film) passed away in 2020.
Rictus Erectus
Furiosa marked the return of Nathan Jones as Immortan Joe’s big dumb son Rictus Erectus. The prequel strongly suggested the simple-minded man-child was a pedophile (we fortunately didn’t have to find out for sure), making his demise in Fury Road even more satisfying.
The People Eater
Furiosa brought back Fury Road‘s detestable, gluttonous warlord and his fake gold nose, John Howard’s The People Eater. The prequel revealed something new about him, too. He was not the original Immortan Joe ally charged with running Gas Town. He originally served alongside Joe at the Citadel.
The Bullet Farmer
The war-loving Bullet Farmer (a pre-Wasteland ally of Immortan Joe) was back for Furiosa with his unique bullet keffiyeh. The prequel showed how he briefly lost the Bullet Farm to Dementus, but was a big part of Immortan Joe winning the 40-day Wasteland war that followed the Bullet Farm’s fall. Richard Carter played the Bullet Farmer in Fury Road but passed away in 2019. In Furiosa, Lee Perry assays the role.
Organic Mechanic
Furiosa provided the backstory of how Angus Sampson’s Wasteland “doctor” ended up in the service of Immortan Joe. He originally worked for Dementus, but the Citadel’s leader instantly recognized the Organic Mechanic’s value and claimed him as part of the deal Immortan Joe made with Dementus. The Organic Mechanic was immediately tasked with delivering the babies of Joe’s slave-wives.
The Prime Imperator
Richard Norton’s Prime Imperator, leader of Immortan Joe’s Imperators in Fury Road, briefly appeared alongside Immortan Joe during his negotiations with Dementus in Furiosa. While Norton’s role in the prequel was significantly smaller than his first appearance (even if this younger version of the character had way more hair), it did reveal just how long he served as one of the Citadel’s highest ranking soldiers.
Doof Warrior (Coma)
The Wasteland’s greatest musician, Coma, made a brief cameo atop the Doof Wagon towards the end of Furiosa, because nobody rocks harder than the Doof Warrior.
Valkyrie
In Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa reunited with her old friend The Valkyrie (Megan Gale), after finally making her way back to the Vuvalini, a group that also appeared in both films). The opening of Furiosa showed Little Valkyrie (Dylan Adonis) was there when bandits stole Furiosa from the Green Place, making their eventual reunion decades later in Fury Road even more powerful.
Mad Rockatansky
We knew going into the film Max Mad himself would make a cameo in the film, but it wasn’t much of one. We only saw the franchise’s namesake from behind in a brief shot reminiscent of Fury Road‘s opening. During his brief appearance he watched a battered Furiosa making her way home, unaware of their future connection.
The Five Wives
The film ended with the plot that drove Fury Road, as it showed Furiosa hiding Joe’s Five Wives into her War Rig. The movie only showed them briefly, but it was enough to remind us how important they were to Furiosa’s ultimate redemption.
War Boys and Rock Riders
Two important groups from Fury Road also revved up their engines in Furiosa. Immortan Joe’s War Boys were once again big parts of the action. And the prequel also featured The Rock Riders, who controlled that vital pass in Fury Road.
BONUS: A Fury Road Alum Plays the Comics and Video Game Character Scabrous Scrotus in Furiosa
Immortan Joe’s eldest son Scabrous Scrotus made his movie debut in Furiosa after previously appearing in the Fury Road comic series and 2015 Mad Max video game. What made the sociopathic killer’s big screen debut extra special, though, was who played him. Josh Helman was under that prominent brow, and he also played the War Boy Slit in Fury Road.
He was just one more Fury Road actor we got to witness in a film that brought back so many great stars and characters.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist with real Imperator potential. Maybe. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
