Mad Max: Fury Road producer and first assistant director, P. J. Voeten, has once again confirmed that Chris Hemsworth will play the villain in the upcoming post-apocalyptic prequel, Furiosa. Revealed in the behind-the-scenes book "Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road," by Kyle Buchanan, Voeten states that Furiosa will find the Hollywood heartthrob playing against type and that the prequel will introduce younger versions of characters from Mad Max’s past.

"George saw Chris [Hemsworth] initially as a courtesy and then fell in love with the idea. He's going to play totally against type, the lead baddie. Unfortunately, we've got to find all of our other characters that aren't around anymore: a new Immortan, a new Bullet Farmer, and a few others."

According to Voeten, Mad Max: Furiosa will introduce early versions of previous bad guys such as Immortan Joe, with the studio still looking for the right actors to play these parts. So, we can conclude then that Chris Hemsworth will be playing a new character as he steps into the against-type role of Furiosa’s primary antagonist.

This new information from Voeten tracks with what the pages of "Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road" have previously revealed, namely that Hemsworth’s villain will sport the superb, quintessentially Mad Max-esque title, Dr. Dementus; "They have Chris Hemsworth as the villain, who I heard was called Dr. Dementus.”

Earlier rumors have described Hemsworth’s role as a man in his “30s-40s,” who is "breathtakingly handsome.” Possessing "an angel's face, scarred by a deep forehead wounded stitched together with shiny chrome staples,” the role of Dr. Dementus certainly has the potential to be one of Hemsworth’s best and should give the actor ample opportunity to create something very different from what audiences are used to seeing from the heroic leading man.

Furiosa will follow Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular rebel warrior, who was introduced to audiences in 2015's stellar action flick Mad Max: Fury Road, exploring the origin of the character long before she became the inspiring operator of Immortan Joe's War Rig and joined forces with Tom Hardy's Mad Max Rockatansky. George Miller is returning to co-write, direct and produce the project alongside his long-time Oscar-nominated producing partner Doug Mitchell.

Production on Mad Max: Furiosa is expected to begin soon, with a release date scheduled for May 24, 2024.

Chris Hemsworth Will First be Back on Hero Duty in Marvel Sequel Thor: Love and Thunder

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Marvel Studios

Before hunting for guzzolene and no doubt being some sort of tyrannical leader, Chris Hemsworth will first return to a much more familiar role, that of Marvel’s Thor in the upcoming sequel Thor: Love and Thunder. Directed by Taika Waititi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the MCU follow-up stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, alongside Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Jaimie Alexander, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, and Vin Diesel.

Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 8, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.