Tom Hardy Is Not Sure He’s The New MAX

Not too long ago, it was confirmed that Brit thesp, Tom Hardy who I’m hoping would get nominated for his great performance in Bronson, was set to play the new Max in the fourth MAD MAX movie titled FURY ROAD and Charlize Theron was said to co-star as the female lead. Everything seemed to be well, the world ran with it but Hardy recently talked to MTV and he sounded like he’s not sure which character he’ll actually be playing in the movie…

“George hasn’t actually confirmed that,”
“it’s strongly coming in my direction. I would be preparing for that role.”
“I would have to pick up where Mel left off, but in all honesty, it would be ridiculous to pick up where Mel left off,”
“He is Mad Max. I have to bring something entirely different and new to the stage.”

“If I get offered it and George really wants to go with me, then George will tell me exactly what he wants to do and we’ll work together on the floor to create what it is that he wants to achieve. And I hope I can get that done for him.”
“The audition process had nothing to do with Max and nothing to do with the story or the script. It was unorthodox to the point where actually I could have been auditioning for anything. It was an anonymous read. [Miller and I] haven’t actually gotten into the conversation at all about Max.”

So is director George Miller saving Hardy for a villain role instead? Is this a secret sign that Mel Gibson might return? But he won’t fit the timeline which is set a short while after the story in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) just to keep Max relatively young. Unless there’s going to be some changes on that.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing something solid soon enough because if everything goes as planned, Filming is expected to start next year in August in Australia, with a budget of $100 Million and shooting the whole installment would take about 30 weeks a.k.a over 6 months. Miller previously indicated he didn’t know the final cast but he said everyone (including Mel) was an option.