Furiosa, the next chapter in the Mad Max saga, is nearly out, and that’s a great excuse to watch or re-watch the whole thing. It’s completely fine not to know the right order to watch the series, as the whole series is nearly 50 years old and most people old enough to remember it are also already old enough to have some memory problems.
There are two possible orders in which to watch the Mad Max Saga, and there are very small differences between both. Let’s check them out.
How to Watch the Mad Max Saga in Release Order
1- Mad Max (1979)
The original Mad Max takes place in an undisclosed near feature (for the people of 1979) where the world was on the brink of complete collapse. The film follows Max Rockatansky, a cop who is broken after he witnesses his family killed at the hands of a biker gang and goes on a revenge spree.
2- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Even though Max ended up effectively “retiring” the evil biker gang at the end of the original movie, he didn’t really do much for the state of the world, which is now long past the brink of collapse. Even though it takes place just around three years after the original movie, the whole known world of Road Warrior is but an Australia-sized arena where those who have the guns and the fuel get to make up the rules.
3- Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Thunderdome takes place nearly a decade after Road Warrior, at a time when people are once again trying to create something we’d charitably call society. Max finds himself in a gladiatorial arena and ends up leading a bunch of kids to a better life. It’s the least-liked movie in the franchise, but it’s still deserving of your attention.
4- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Fury Road came out 30 years after the release of the previous entry in the franchise, so director George Miller wisely left the chronology unclear. We naturally assume that the story takes place after the events of Thunderdome, but the movie doesn’t feature any direct reference to that movie. That’s by design, for the record; Miller confirmed that the films do not have a strict continuity, with the idea being that Max’s story is akin to a campfire tale told by survivors. So while Max’s age and design may be in flux, he’s intended to be the same character in each film.
There’s also a second release of Fury Road, Black and Chrome, which is how the director intended the film to be viewed.
5- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Furiosa shows us various stages of the life of the titular character, and we know that it takes place before she’s the badass adult general we see in Fury Road. If you believe that Fury Road takes place in the same universe as the original trilogy, then Furiosa takes place an unknown amount of time after Thunderdome and around a decade before Fury Road.
How to Watch the Mad Max Saga in Chronological Order
- Mad Max (1979)
- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
- Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
- Mad Max: Fury Road – Black and Chrome (2017)
The Mad Max saga to date has been an entirely chronological affair. The sole exception is that Furiosa is a prequel to Fury Road. If you want to watch the Mad Max Saga in chronological order, the only change you need to make is seeing Furiosa before you see Fury Road.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens on May 24.
