Praetorian Jack actor Tom Burke sheds more insight into his on-screen relationship.
The Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga introduced an important figure in Furiosa’s life, which was Tom Burke‘s Praetorian Jack. As Anya Taylor-Joy‘s Furiosa aims to escape The Citadel, she encounters Jack and, while there’s initially tension, Jack ultimately enlists Furiosa as part of her crew and teaches her about driving the War Rig. The pair clearly have a strong connection to one another, though it’s never confirmed if it’s a romantic connection, with Burke himself offering up his own interpretation of their relationship, though leaves it up to the audience to make their own decisions.
“It was really nice to actually build that with Anya and [co-writer] Nico [Lathouris] and [co-writer and director] George [Miller] because there was a point when [the characters embrace each other] far earlier in the script,” Burke explained to Entertainment Weekly. “It may have been a hangover from a previous draft because when I read it, it jumped out to me, and I said, ‘I think we have to be careful about this because he’s kind of a mentor figure. You don’t want that to seamlessly change into something else.'”
He continued, “What that ended up being — which I really like is, and George was very excited by the whole idea of — was that it’s not until the very last minute of what you see of them together, almost the last second, they go, ‘Oh, now we’re in a totally different space.'”
Given that Fury Road saw Furiosa attempting to escape Immortan Joe and Furiosa sees her at least temporarily assisting him in his goals, things in the wasteland clearly change and evolve over time. In this sense, Burke offered his own take on the pair’s connection, noting that there’s a definite change at some point and how he thinks the pair could have been on the cusp of romance.
“They’re not in the world they were in. It’s a totally new beginning for them. You know what then happens, obviously. But I think that’s more romantic in a way. I mean, that appeals to my own fondness for this tragic romance,” Burke expressed.
Set more than a decade before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga explores how Furiosa was kidnapped from her home in the Green Place of Many Mothers by the treacherous Warlord Dementus and his Biker Horde. As Dementus and Immortan Joe vie for control of the wasteland, Furiosa must survive every challenge in front of her as she seeks vengeance against her kidnappers on her way to return home.
Mad Max creator George Miller returns to direct Furiosa, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, and Quaden Bayles. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga released in theaters on May 24th.
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