Just in time for the upcoming release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, check out our guide below to find out where you can watch every Mad Max movie in order (and discover whether the saga actually has a chronological order or not).
The first Mad Max film premiered in 1979 and was set in a near-future dystopian Australia where society has collapsed due to oil shortages and widespread ecocide. Max Rockatansky works for the only remaining law enforcement agency in the country, the Main Force Patrol, and he’s tasked with roaming the wasteland to hopefully bring as much justice as he can.
The sequel Mad Max 2, released two years later in 1981, sees Max discover a small community living in a village built around a working oil rig. After noticing the village is constantly attacked, he tries to strike a deal: protect them in exchange for fuel.
The third film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome has become arguably the most iconic. It starred Tina Turner as Aunty Entity, the leader of Bartertown, an outpost that gets its power from an underground refinery. But the ruler of the underworld wants to overthrow Entity…so she enlists Max to help take down her rival.
The franchise went dormant until 2015 when Mad Max: Fury Road premiered to rave reviews. This time around, Max is played by Tom Hardy and he joins forces with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who seeks to free a group of imprisoned “wives” and lead them to freedom.
Mad Max director George Miller has never been clear on whether Fury Road is a sequel or a reboot. “Well, they’re not really connected in any very strict way,” Miller told Den of Geek in 2015. “They were all standalone films in many, many ways.”
What we do know is that the upcoming Furiosa is a prequel to Fury Road and portrays a younger Imperator Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. However, it seems that aside from knowing it’s a prequel to Fury Road, where or how the two films fit in with the original trilogy remains a mystery. But the most likely order to watch the movies chronologically would be the following.
How to watch the Mad Max franchise in chronological order
- Mad Max (1979)
- Max Mad 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
There’s also another Mad Max sequel in the works titled Mad Max: The Wasteland. The film is still in the early stages of development, but it appears to be a sequel to Fury Road and will see Hardy reprise his role. Until then, check out our guide below to find out where to stream every Mad Max movie so far.
