Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller has said that a prequel will focus on Charlize Theron’s character, Furiosa.

In a new interview with The New York Times, Miller also confirmed that Theron will not be returning to play a younger version of the character.

Theron first played the role in 2015’s Fury Road, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest action movies of all time.

Miller said he had mulled over the idea of bringing Theron back using digital de-aging technology, but ultimately decided against it.

He said: “For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet. Despite the valiant attempts on The Irishman, I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, [in] particular Japanese video-game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.”

As Variety reports, Miller is said to be considering Anya Taylor-Joy for the part of the younger Furiosa.

The director added that he wrote a draft of the prequel before Fury Road had even begun shooting, alongside extensive backstories for a whole host of other characters.

“It was purely a way of helping Charlize and explaining it to ourselves,” Miller said.

It was reported earlier this year that the fifth Mad Max movie had been confirmed to start filming later this year. It remains to be determined whether the schedule could be pushed back due to coronavirus.