Mad Max Movies in Order: Release Order, Chronology and Where Furiosa Fits

Watch the Mad Max movies in release order: Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2 (1981), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024). That is five films from director George Miller across 45 years. The stories are loosely connected, so release order is the simplest route. The one real wrinkle is that Furiosa is a prequel to Fury Road.

No sixth film is confirmed. A follow-up called Mad Max: The Wasteland has been discussed for years, but it has no release date, as explained below.

Mad Max movies in release order

Dates are the original release dates listed by Wikipedia’s franchise page. Release dates elsewhere can differ, and this guide does not check where each film streams, which varies by country.

Mad Max chronological order

The franchise has, in Miller’s words, “no strict chronology,” according to Wikipedia’s franchise page, which adds that Furiosa “probably” takes place after Beyond Thunderdome. In practice, the only fixed point is that Furiosa comes before Fury Road. A sensible story order is:

1. Mad Max: Max Rockatansky is a highway policeman in a collapsing Australia
2. Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior: society has collapsed and Max wanders the wasteland
3. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome: Max enters Bartertown
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: the origin story of Imperator Furiosa
5. Mad Max: Fury Road: Furiosa and Max meet on a single long chase

That is also the order in which the films were released, apart from the last two swapping places. If you would rather keep Fury Road as the big payoff, watch in release order and treat Furiosa as a look back.

Which order should you choose?

First-time viewers: use release order. You see how the world decays and how Miller’s filmmaking grows from low-budget Australian crime film to large-scale desert spectacle.

Rewatchers: watch Furiosa immediately before Fury Road. Furiosa follows its heroine from her kidnapping from the “Green Place” by the forces of warlord Dementus to her rise to Imperator, so it sets up the person Max meets in Fury Road.

Short on time: Mad Max 2 and Fury Road are the two films the franchise page singles out as ranked among the best action films ever made. You can watch them without the others, as each stands on its own.

Do you need to watch the older films first?

No. Each film follows Max, or Furiosa, in a different corner of the wasteland with mostly new characters. The first three star Mel Gibson, and Fury Road recasts Max with Tom Hardy. According to Wikipedia, most of the films are told as a story recounted by a narrator years after the fact, which suggests that Max and Furiosa have become folklore for the survivors. That is why the films do not need to match perfectly.

Where Furiosa fits

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, written by Miller and Nico Lathouris, stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne as Furiosa at different ages, with Chris Hemsworth as Dementus and Tom Burke also in the cast. It is the first film in the series that does not focus on Max. Miller and co-writer Brendan McCarthy reportedly found they had enough material for extra scripts while writing Fury Road, and one centred on Furiosa. Charlize Theron played the character in Fury Road, and Miller reportedly considered de-aging her for the prequel before casting new actors.

What about Mad Max: The Wasteland?

After Fury Road, Miller announced a follow-up with the working title Mad Max: The Wasteland. Tom Hardy said in 2015 that he was attached to three more films. After Furiosa, Hardy said “I don’t think it’s happening,” per Forbes, as cited on Wikipedia. In a February 2025 Vulture interview, Miller said he was still interested in The Wasteland but wanted to focus on other projects first. As of November 6, 2026, we have not found an official release date, cast or production start in the sources we checked, so treat it as unconfirmed.

More franchise watch guides

If you like this format, our guides to the Terminator movies in order, the Alien movies in order, the Predator movies in order and the Matrix movies in order cover other long-running sci-fi and action series. For a closer look at the film that made the series famous again, read our Mad Max: Fury Road review.

FAQ

What order should I watch the Mad Max movies in?

Release order: Mad Max, Mad Max 2, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Is Furiosa a prequel to Fury Road?

Yes. It is a prequel and origin story for Furiosa, set years before Fury Road.

Is The Road Warrior the same as Mad Max 2?

Yes. Mad Max 2 was released in the United States as The Road Warrior.

How many Mad Max movies are there?

Five films have been released. Mad Max: The Wasteland has been discussed but is not confirmed.

Do I need to watch the other Mad Max films before Fury Road?

No. Fury Road is a standalone story with a new lead actor, Tom Hardy, though it shares the world and the character of Max.

Who plays Mad Max?

Mel Gibson in the first three films and Tom Hardy in Fury Road. In Furiosa, Jacob Tomuri appears as Max in a cameo.

Image credit and context: official Warner Bros. artwork for Mad Max: Fury Road*, reused from our review of the film for editorial identification. No open licence is claimed.*