But his replacement makes a lot of sense…

Don’t worry Mad Max fans, the wasteland wanderer does still appear in Furiosa, but it isn’t the Max we remember as Tom Hardy has sadly not reprised the role after all.

Franchise creator George Miller has revealed that the Fury Road star will not make his highly anticipated Furiosa cameo as Max Rockatansky, but his replacement is just as good, literally. “It’s Jacob Tomuri, who was Tom Hardy’s double,” Miller confirmed at a Furiosa screening, as reported by Screen Rant, “He’s a New Zealand stuntman, and he was doing some other stunts on the film, and I thought, who better?”

Acting as a prequel to the 2015 flick, Furiosa follows the origin story of the one-armed female warrior we met in Mad Max: Fury Road and how she was taken from The Green Place and brought to The Citadel. Miller teased earlier this year that Furiosa features a glimpse of Max and his recognizable car, prompting all of us to believe Hardy would make an appearance. But alas, it is not meant to be.

So, what does this mean for the franchise? Well, this certainly leaves us puzzled about the future of the character as the filmmaker recently revealed plans to make another Mad Max movie, this time telling Max’s story set before Fury Road and after Furiosa.

But, at this point, it is not clear who will play the wasteland wanderer next, or whether Hardy will ever return to the franchise, despite reports in 2017 stating that the actor was still signed on for two more Max Max movies. However, it is important to note that Miller has changed actors before, as the antihero was first portrayed by Mel Gibson in the original 1979 Mad Max and its two sequels until Hardy took over.

As for Furiosa, Anya-Taylor Joy will soon grace our screens as the memorable warrior first portrayed by Charlize Theron. The movie, which also stars Chris Hemsworth, has had overwhelmingly positive first reactions and includes a 15-minute action sequence that 200 stunt people 78 days to shoot. We don’t know about you, but that sounds like one heck of a movie, Hardy or not.

Furiosa hits theaters on May 24. For more on Furiosa, check out our exclusive images from the film and Hemsworth explaining how he got into character, or keep up with new movies heading your way this year.