Furiosa: A Mad MaxSaga prequel star Tom Burke confirms the fate of his character Praetorian Jack. A new addition to the world of Mad Max, Jack is a war-rig driver, famed for his ability to make successful supply runs on the ever-hazardous Fury Road. After recognizing Furiosa’s particular set of skills, revealed during one especially deadly run, Jack becomes first Furiosa’s mentor, then her lover, but ultimately dies a violent death at the hands of Chris Hemsworth’s twisted new Mad Max universe bad guy Warlord Dementus.

Though characters are known to make surprise returns in the world of Mad Max, such will not be the case for Praetorian Jack, as Burke himself just confirmed, revealing the conversation he had with director George Miller about chances for an unlikely resurrection in a future film. Check out Burke’s remarks below (via GQ):

I actually read the words, “He’s dead and she sees his dead lifeless corpse.” And eventually, it was about a week, I said, “George, I’m dead, aren’t I?” He’s like, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.” Because I thought, You never know, I could come back. He might not have any face left, but a lot of people in the Wasteland are like that.

Praetorian Jack’s Death Has Deep Meaning In Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Image via Warner Bros.

Furiosa needs no more fuel for her vengeful rage, after being kidnapped from her home by Dementus’ men, then watching Dementus torture and kill her mother, by the time she also loses Praetorian Jack to Dementus and his crazed biker gang. Jack had provided a sense of intimate connection for the orphaned Furiosa, however, and his death momentarily feels like the blow that could finally push Furiosa to lose the last of her humanity, and give up all hope of a better life.

Dementus’ final speech to Furiosa is indeed a challenge to her, to forget about the better life promised by Jack, and embrace hate (the speech could have been uttered by Emperor Palpatine to Luke Skywalker). Furiosa does complete her mission of vengeance against Dementus, but does not embrace hate, as the Furiosa ending reveals, when she returns to the Citadel, and uses Dementus’ still-living body as fertilizer for a tree grown from the peach pit given to her by her mother, a symbolic gesture proving she still has hope for a return to life outside the Wasteland.

For the hope-over-hate message of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga to land, Praetorian Jack’s death must be a real and final one. Jack doesn’t appear in Fury Road anyway, so it was already clear that he did not survive being savaged by Dementus. That made it a mere technicality for Miller to confirm Jack’s demise, though it’s understandable that Burke, wishing to be a part of future Mad Max plans, would ask anyway.