The new Mad Max film is doing quite badly at the box office, and it has even broken a record for the worst Memorial Day film opening for decades. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel to the very much loved Mad Max: Fury Road that focuses on the Furiosa character (hence the title) and not Max Rockatansky. Still, even with Mad Max: Fury Road, Max was very much a secondary character, or at the very least, he wasn’t really the sole main character, he shared that accolade with Furiosa.

I have to admit to finding it a bit puzzling that Fury Road was such a hit, while Furiosa is seemingly struggling. I’d have thought that the fans of the first film would be flocking to the cinema to see this new one. I’ve not yet watched Furiosa myself, but the general consensus is that it is great and is a real cinema film. A sure-fire George Miller epic with a lot of car mayhem and great action set-pieces that really should be seen on the big screen. Over the years, people have questioned if Max from Fury Road was even meant to be the same Max from the original trilogy. Slight spoilers for Furiosa, but there is a Max Rockatansky cameo and yes, he is the same Max. Even more so, when Fury Road was originally written, it was written specifically for Mel Gibson to return, as George Miller and co-writer Brendan McCarthy cover in this lengthy but great interview.

Just in case you didn’t know, Mel went a bit off the rails after being arrested in 2006 of DUI. Things got worse when his antiemetic rant while being arrested was ‘leaked’ to the public. A rant that Mel had to apologise for. His career tanked and things got even worse when in 2010, Mel had several other rants, this time against this ex-girlfriend. These rants (also ‘leaked’) included various racial slurs and even death threats. The short version is that Mel Gibson completely screwed himself over and went from being a massive box office draw as both an actor and a director, to becoming a Hollywood outcast that nobody would touch.

This all happened as Mad Max: Fury Road was being written specifically for Mel to return. Obviously, George Miller didn’t want to risk his film bombing at the box office if he had hired Mel at the time, so Max Rockatansky was recast with Tom Hardy playing the part instead. But, time is a great healer and Mel has been doing more and more work recently, both as an actor and director. He directed the multi-award winning (including two Oscars) Hacksaw Ridge in 2016. Mel has Flight Risk coming out this year, and it has even been said that he is working on sequels to The Passion of the Christ and Lethal Weapon. So I think it is safe to assume that Hollywood has forgiven Mel for his past indiscretions, and he is back doing what he loves to do.

Which brings me to the question of this very article. Mel Gibson back as Mad Max, could it work? George Miller has already said that he wants to make more Mad Max films, he has said that he already has the next film planned out and that it is called Mad Max: The Wasteland. However, we will only see that film if Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga does well and currently, it’s not. According to George, (if it does happen) Mad Max: The Wasteland will have Tom Hardy back as Max… but do the fans really want that?

Look, George Miller is getting on in years, he’s 79 now. Is he really going to be directing films for much longer? Why not? If Clint Eastwood (his birthday today as I publish this) can direct a film, aged 94, and he currently is, then I reckon George still can, as long as he wants to and is able. Then there is Mel Gibson, he’s 68 right now, just maybe he’s a bit too old to come back as Max Rockatansky? If he is willing to return as Martin Riggs for Lethal Weapon 5… why not Max too?

That’s the great thing about acting, it is fake and fakery can go a long way. Mel can do all the acting, while the stunt doubles and special effects do the rest. The returning of the old action star is the in thing right now. Legacy sequels are doing well at the box office… sometimes. Tom Cruise was almost 60 when he filmed Top Gun: Maverick and that exploded at the box office. Harrison Ford came back as Indiana Jones recently, aged 79. Yeah, okay, it didn’t do as well at the box office, but Harrison still managed to pull off the ageing action hero well enough. Could Mel Gibson come back as Mad Max? I honestly think he could. I’m willing to bet that a new Mad Max film starring Mel Gibson will create a much bigger buzz than a spin-off/prequel about Furiosa with a different actress playing the role from her first appearance.

There are a lot of “ifs” surrounding the whole thing, of course. If Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga does well at the box office, and it really isn’t right now. If George Miller wants to do another film and if he is willing to even have Mel Gibson back. If Mel wants to come back is also a major factor. But man, if all of those “ifs” worked out… Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!