Who is Praetorian Jack? Furiosa character explained

The Mad Max franchise has officially expanded with a whole host of new prequel characters, but who is Praetorian Jack in Furiosa?

Gone are the days of Mel Gibson driving around in a V8 Interceptor in the original Mad Max movies, with the post-apocalyptic wastelands changed for good in the 2015’s Fury Road.

One of its characters, Charlize Theron‘s Imperator Furiosa, has now received the prequel treatment, exploring the events that led her to working in the Citadel for tyrant Immortan Joe.

With Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth now taking the lead, Mad Max has a few new faces to show for itself. But who is Praetorian Jack in Furiosa? Warning — spoilers ahead.

Who is Praetorian Jack in Furiosa?

Praetorian Jack is the driver of Immortan Joe’s War Rig before Imperator Furiosa takes over, as seen in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Warner Bros.

It’s not clearly revealed how Jack gets his job but Mad Max lore states that he comes from a military family, with Immortan Joe inclined to give him a job for that reason.

As Furiosa climbs up the ranks of the Citadel’s rig workers, she learns that he has an impressive reputation. The other workers regard him as something of a legend, setting a record of never having lost a shipment on repeat runs to both Gastown and The Bullet Farm.

When the War Boys ambush Jack and the group on a run after Dementus has taken control of Gastown, his second-in-command is killed. Furiosa steps into place, and after the two are the only survivors, it’s revealed that she is in fact a woman, having pretended to be a boy for years. Jack tells Furiosa that he’ll teach her all he knows about surviving on the roads, setting her up to escape back to The Green Place.

The two also have a romantic connection, though this never follows through to an actual relationship. While Dementus barters with Immortan Joe over trade and Gastown’s control, Jack and Furiosa try to ambush him at The Bullet Farm, resulting in Jack being killed before the Furiosa ending.

The name Praetorian comes from the Roman Praetor, which is defined as “each of two ancient Roman magistrates ranking below consul.”

Who plays Praetorian Jack?

Tom Burke plays Praetorian Jack in Furiosa, but the role was originally meant to be played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who pulled out due to scheduling conflicts.

Warner Bros.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Burke explained that he “couldn’t believe” that he had been cast.

“I mean, I knew he’d gone, ‘That guy’, in some way or another but yeah, I didn’t know he’d stopped looking,” he explained. “I can’t quite believe I’m here. I just look at the [poster] and I’m in that movie. That’s amazing.”

Burke also stated that he could have gone on filming for Furiosa “forever,” claiming that connection was “key” to Jack’s relationship with Furiosa.

“I felt like — not to big up my own [character], it was more about responsibility than anything else —” that was very key to the story working.

“It was actually nice to be worrying about that rather than how one plays a certain kind of genre or is cool or anything else that one might go to in a kind of panicked moment, just thinking about how you’re telling that story.”

Will Praetorian Jack return to Mad Max?

Praetorian Jack won’t return in any Mad Max sequels after his fight against Dementus, but if George Miller decided to create more movies set before Furiosa, he certainly could.

Thanks to Jack being killed off in Furiosa, he’s never going to cross paths with Mad Max himself. However, in an interview with TheMovieReport, Burke confirmed that he did take some inspiration from the Tom Hardy character.

“I think there’s echoes of Max in him, but you feel like he’s an outsider who is institutionalized, in a sense. He doesn’t know what it would actually be like to be on the outside. He’s an outsider on the inside.”

Mad Max master George Miller has previously revealed that plans for two sequels to Fury Road are in the works, including one with a working title of Mad Max: The Wasteland. It’s currently unconfirmed if either of the two projects will definitely go ahead, with neither Tom Hardy nor Charlize Theron officially attached either.

However, this doesn’t mean that the wasteland world seen in Furiosa couldn’t be fleshed out more. Speaking on the Total Film Podcast, Burke claimed that he was “up for” exploring more of Jack’s life in the Citadel before meeting Furiosa.

Furiosa is in theaters now. Find out more about Furiosa’s filming locations, whether there’s a post-credits scene, and if Mad Max turns up for good measure.

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