Do You Have To Watch ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Before ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga?’

As summer movie season officially begins this weekend, it’s time to decide between two very important pieces of cinematic history: a Mad Max installment or a Garfield installment. The choice is yours.

But if you choose Furiosa: A Mad Max Story, you might be wondering if you need to watch the other four Mad Max films in the series.

Furiosa is a prequel that tells the heroine’s origin story, so you don’t need to watch the other Mad Max installments beforehand in order to understand it. However, you might appreciate the world-building a bit more (and understand some references) if you check out Mad Max: Fury Road beforehand. The movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Fury Road was released in 2015 as a long-awaited follow-up to 1985’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. The movie starred Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as the (grown) Imperator Furiosa.

The prequel will tell Furiosa’s harrowing origin story in which she is taken from her family and must learn how to survive on her own in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Here is the official synopsis:

As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Story hits theaters on May 24th.