Why Furiosa's Tom Burke felt 'great relief' after reading the script

'Assume' makes an ass out of you and me.

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 17: Tom Burke attends the UK premiere of
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga star Tom Burke. (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga actor Tom Burke has explained why he was relieved after reading the script for the first time.

In the new wasteland blockbuster, Burke portrays War Rig commander Praetorian Jack, who aids Anya Taylor-Joy's vengeful Furiosa en route to confronting her mother's killer, Dementus.

Opening up to The Independent about his assumptions upon hearing that filmmaker George Miller wanted to meet with him via video during the casting process, the Strike star admitted he believed he was being lined up to play a "wrong 'un".

"I've played a few in my time," said Burke, "and I was thinking, OK, it's set in the Mad Max world, so the part's obviously going to be some sort of lascivious, horrible person.

CHRIS HEMSWORTH and ANYA TAYLOR-JOY in FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (2024), directed by GEORGE MILLER. Credit: WARNER BROS. / Album
Furiosa, Praetorian Jack and Dementus. (Warner Bros.)

"To my great relief, it wasn't," he added. "Because there's only so much you want to do back-to-back before it wears on your soul a little."

Prior to this Mad Mad: Fury Road prequel, Burke notched up credits in horror Donkey Punch, The Hooligan Factory, Utopia, The Souvenir, and Mank, where some of those so-called scumbags dwell.

Reflecting on the Furiosa experience, he added: "I'd never been on anything that scale. For that reason, I felt much more intimidated than I let myself admit."

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, is coming to cinemas in 2024. (Warner Bros.)
Anya Taylor-Joy plays the eponymous road warrior. (Warner Bros.)

Meanwhile, in her four-star review of Furiosa, Yahoo Entertainment UK's Roxy Simons wrote of how the movie doesn't rely on the same "big loud action" as its predecessor, with Miller instead choosing "to hone in on the more intimate journey that Furiosa is going through, letting us in on her pain and her struggle to survive.

"The audience are able to get a better understanding of the character and her struggles as a result, but the stop-and-start rhythm of the storytelling can make it difficult to really invest in it."

Furiosa is out now in cinemas.