The Mad Max franchise is one of cinema’s most iconic depictions of a post-apocalyptic world: gasoline-soaked highways, teetering war rigs, and antiheroes driven by survival and vengeance. It began in the late 1970s and has grown into a saga spanning decades, culminating most recently with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), a prequel that explores the backstory of Furiosa long before she met Max on the War Rig.
Because the films were not all released in chronological order and director George Miller has described the series more as mythic stories than strict canonical continuity, there are two common ways to watch them: by release order and by chronological narrative order. Each offers a different experience, and neither is “wrong.”
Mad Max Movies In Release Order
Watching the Mad Max films in the order they were released gives you the clearest sense of how the franchise evolved — both technically and thematically — over nearly 45 years. This approach mirrors how audiences originally experienced the saga, from gritty origin story to blockbuster spectacle and expanding mythology:
1. Mad Max (1979)
The film that started it all. Melbourne police officer Max Rockatansky becomes a grief-stricken wanderer after his family is murdered in a crumbling society. Here Max first drives his beloved V8 Interceptor — the vehicle that would become a legend.
2. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
A lean, high-octane sequel widely regarded as one of the greatest action films ever made, this entry follows Max as a lone drifter helping a besieged fuel settlement fend off scavengers.
3. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
This third film throws Max into the strange society of Bartertown, ruled by Aunty Entity. It’s more eccentric than the first two but remains a key piece of the saga.
4. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
After a three-decade gap, the franchise was reborn with Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa. This near-nonstop chase-movie spectacle focuses more on the imperiled wives of Immortan Joe and Furiosa’s ambition to return them home.
5. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
A prequel to Fury Road, this installment focuses on a young Furiosa — her capture from the Green Place of Many Mothers, her survival under the warlords of the Wasteland, and her path toward becoming the hardened driver we meet in Fury Road.
Watching in this sequence lets you appreciate the stylistic and production leaps the franchise has made — from gritty Aussie action to grand, artful spectacle — while also keeping the story’s emotional beats clear.
Mad Max Movies In Chronological Order
If you want to follow the in-universe timeline, the “story progression” of the world rather than how the films were released, there’s a slight shuffle:
1. Mad Max (1979)
Introduces Max and the early descent of society into lawlessness.
2. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Max continues wandering the wasteland, helping those in need when he can.
3. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Max’s journey brings him into the bizarre world of Bartertown.
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Though released after Fury Road, this prequel tells Furiosa’s backstory, set roughly 15 years before Fury Road. It enriches the character’s arc and shows part of the Wasteland’s broader history before Max and Furiosa meet.
5. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Finally, the stories of Max and Furiosa converge as they flee Immortan Joe’s regime in one of cinema’s most acclaimed action epics.
This order emphasizes narrative development and character history, particularly if you’re more interested in how individual arcs like Furiosa’s fit into the greater saga.
