Plans for a fourth film in the '' Mad Max '' series hit financial difficulties and the project spent several years in " development hell " . In 1995 , George Miller re-acquired the rights to future '' Mad Max '' films from Warner Bros . The idea for a fourth occurred to Miller in August 1998 when he was walking in an intersection in Los Angeles . About a year later , while travelling from Los Angeles to Australia , the idea coalesced . Miller conceived a story where " violent marauders were fighting , not for oil or for material goods , but for human beings . " The film was set to shoot in 2001 through 20th Century Fox , but was postponed because of the September 11 attacks that same year . " The American dollar collapsed against the Australian dollar , and our budget ballooned " , Miller said , adding that he " had to move on to '' Happy Feet '' because there was a small window when that was ready " . Mel Gibson , who starred in the original three previous films , would not return to his role as the lead character . Miller ended up re-casting the role because of controversies surrounding Gibson and because he wanted Max to remain at a younger age , as the " same contemporary warrior " . Miller announced in 2003 that a script had been written for a fourth film , and that pre-production was in the early stages . The project was given the green light to begin filming in the Australian desert in May 2003 with a budget of US$ 100 million , but the location was ruined by rainfall . '' Mad Max 4 '' entered then a hiatus in light of security concerns related to its Namibian shoot because of tightened travel and shipping restrictions at the onset of the Iraq War
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Mad Max: Fury Road