Mad Max movies in order
Five films, one clean prequel, and a continuity its own director refuses to pin down.
Updated 4 August 2026 · 5 titles tracked
The simple part: Furiosa is a prequel to Fury Road, covering about fifteen years and finishing at the exact moment Fury Road opens. Watch it before or after; both work.
The complicated part is whether any of these films share a timeline, and the honest answer is that George Miller has gone out of his way not to say.
Every Mad Max film in order
Release order. Furiosa is a prequel that ends where Fury Road begins.
- 1Mad Max1979 · The Original Trilogy · Essential
- 2Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior1981 · The Original Trilogy · Essential
- 3Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome1985 · The Original Trilogy
- 4Mad Max: Fury Road2015 · The Modern Films · Essential
- 5Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga2024 · The Modern Films · Essential
Does the continuity actually connect?
Max ages barely at all across forty years of films, the world is at a different stage of collapse in each, and Fury Road never specifies where it sits relative to Beyond Thunderdome.
Miller has described Max as closer to a figure in oral history — a man different survivors tell stories about — than a character on a continuous timeline. Taken that way the inconsistencies stop being errors.
Practically: watch them in release order, enjoy them as five films about the same wasteland, and do not try to build a timeline. The series does not want one.
Furiosa before or after Fury Road?
After, on a first watch. Fury Road is the better film and needs no setup — it explains its world visually in about ten minutes, which is part of why it works.
Furiosa then plays as enrichment: you already know where she ends up, and the film is about the cost of getting there. Watched first it is a decent film missing its payoff.
Where to start
Fury Road. It requires nothing, it is the best film in the series, and if it does not land, the others will not either. The 1979 original is much smaller and stranger than its reputation — closer to an Australian revenge thriller than a post-apocalyptic epic.
Common questions
What order should I watch the Mad Max movies?
Release order: Mad Max, The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, Fury Road, then Furiosa. Chronologically Furiosa comes before Fury Road, but Fury Road is the better first watch.
Should I watch Furiosa before Fury Road?
On a first watch, no. Fury Road needs no setup and is the stronger film. Furiosa works better as enrichment afterwards.
Do the Mad Max films share a continuity?
Loosely, and deliberately unclearly. George Miller has described Max more as a figure in oral history than a character on a fixed timeline, and Fury Road never states where it falls relative to the original trilogy.
Where should I start with Mad Max?
Fury Road (2015). It assumes nothing and is the best entry in the series.