Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ending explained

Furiosa serves as a direct prequel to the events that transpire in Fury Road, but how exactly does this new entry in the Mad Max franchise draw to a close? Here’s the full recap of the film’s ending.

Almost a full decade on from the genre-defining Fury Road, George Miller has once again returned to his beloved Mad Max series with 2024’s Furiosa. Sharing a new look at the world in ruin prior to the Tom Hardy-led flick, we see Anya Taylor Joy step into Furiosa’s shoes at a younger age.

Telling the story of her upbringing and the twisted tale of her conflict with Dementus, Miller enriches the universe as a whole, only adding more depth to an already intriguing piece of fiction.

But if you’re wondering how exactly Furiosa ties together with Fury Road, and where this new Mad Max film ends, we’ve got the full rundown below.

How does Furiosa end?

Furiosa comes to a climax with various factions engaging in what was known as the 40-day war. Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus launched an all-out assault against Immortan Joe, The People Eater, The Bullet Farmer, and their legions of followers, all in attempt to seize the Citadel.

As the war raged on, Furiosa toiled away on not only a mechanical replacement for her severed arm, but on a grand scheme to hunt down Dementus and exact her reprisal years in the making. Taking what was perhaps the last set of wheels, well, only three wheels to be exact, in the Citadel, Furiosa ventured out to a local checkpoint where Scrtos and Rictus Erectus were camping out.

Commandeering a newly repaired vehicle with a full set of wheels, the hunt was on, and after some brief shenanigans, Furiosa eventually tracked down Dementus for one final confrontation.

Chasing him to the morbid depths of the wasteland, with no structures or civilization for miles in any direction, Dementus is soon enough left with no vehicle, no weapons, and no allies by his side. “I have nothing. I am nothing,” he said while kneeling down in a sign of defeat.

After berating and beating him, pleading with Dementus to restore her stolen childhood and give the life of her mother back, the confrontation comes to an abrupt close. In a rapid sequence, we hear of multiple theories as to what happened next.

One scenario, the most widely recognized recount of the events, Furiosa simply shot Dementus in the head, one swift blow to claim her revenge. In multiple others, she tormented her lifelong tormentor, chaining him to the back of a vehicle, stringing him up like he did to her mother, torturing him beyond recognition. However, we soon learn the truth behind what happened at the end of the 40-year war.
Deciding a swift death or even a few days of torture simply wouldn’t be enough, Furiosa had another plan in mind, one that goes ‘Beyond Vengeance’, as the Act 5 title card teased.

It turns out, Dementus is kept alive. Furiosa smuggled him back into the Citadel and used his body to grow new life. Embedding her mother’s seed in his flesh, years pass as Dementus sprouts a peach tree, roots carved through his lower body, foliage branching in all directions around him as he remains alive, a withered husk of a human. Furiosa plucks what appears to be the first bearing of fruit from the tree before we get to the closing shot.

In a sequence tying Furiosa directly to Fury Road, we see our protagonist leading The Breeders, Immortan Joe’s Wives, to her War Rig. As we know from the 2015 film, Furiosa’s scheme comes to violent fruition as she drives the Five Wives out of the Citadel. From there, the rest of the story is told through Fury Road.

Much like how Rogue One serves as an immediate prequel to a New Hope in the Star Wars series, Furiosa does too for Fury Road. The films tie together in perfect harmony, with Furiosa ending right as Fury Road begins.

For more from the wasteland, check out our guide to the Charlize Theron recasting, or find out how many Mad Max movies there are. You can also look ahead to other chaotic new movies coming up like Deadpool 3 or Joker 2.