It looks like Imperator Furiosa may be coming to the Fast & Furious franchise, as Variety reports that Mad Max: Fury Road actress Charlize Theron has been offered the villain role in the upcoming eighth installment.
If Theron takes the role she’ll be the franchise’s first main female villain, taking the reins from Fast & Furious 6‘s Luke Evans and Furious 7‘s Jason Statham.
According to the Variety’s article, it is “unclear where negotiations stand currently” between Theron’s team and Universal. However, Deadline‘s article says that the film’s script hasn’t even been completed yet, but director F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) and writer Chris Morgan are definitely putting a female villain into the story. Additionally, the site also mentions that no offer has been made to Charlize Theron, so obviously there are some conflicting reports at the time.
Theron worked with Gray in 2003 on The Italian Job, so this won’t be the two’s first collaboration.
The actress earned critical acclaim across the board for her performance in last year’s George Miller-directed Mad Max: Fury Road and will be looking to continue her good fortune with this year’s The Last Face, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Huntsman: Winter’s War and The Coldest City.
The previous installment in the Fast & Furious series, Furious 7, brought in over $1.5 billion worldwide and was one of the year’s highest grossing films.
For Fast 8, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris will all be reprising their roles. The film is set for release on April 14, 2017.
