Yeah this is pretty much what I want to see. Trying to establish resources for the population, fighting off new rivals coming in to fill the power void from....whatever his name was, metal face guy. Possible moles inside the fortress, that still believe in metal face guy being supernatural, regardless of seeing his corpse (because you know, that's totally something that actually happens with religious types), and these moles try and destroy Furiosa and her new group through assassination and sabotage, etc.
It's a rich story option, and it sucks they aren't bothering with it. I'd rather see that then someone making a movie just to explain why she lost her arm (who fucking cares, it's the post-apocalypse, shit happens).
Frankly, none of that is a Mad Max movie. Even in a movie in his universe in which he won't make an appearance. It's not even just a question of "what will tonally fit this franchise", it's a question of "what part of the previous Mad Max movies makes you think that George Miller has any interest or any talent for making Game of Thrones in the post-apocalypse"?
OT: Can't say I'm thrilled. I don't really care who portrays Furiosa, I thought all (well, most) of the characters were fine for what they were in Fury Road, but Fury Road was
not a character piece. Road Warrior and Fury Road are really the only Mad Max movies worth writing home about (you can chalk in the first half of Thunderdome if you want, but only that, before it turned into a schmalzy kids movie), and they're high octane, extreme action set pieces strung together with the minimum amount of pathos needed to invest the audience in the explosions. I don't really give a damn about having any more story than that. If Miller wants to make another movie like that and thinks that a Furiosa prequel gives him the inspiration to do so, more power to him. It wouldn't really matter who he casts or what the narrative was, since the story is only functional anyhow, and therefore the matter of it being a prequel is of insignificance. If what he wants is to make a heartfelt character piece because all the usual suspects gave him internet blowjobs for making a "feminist piece", I highly doubt it'll end up a movie that anybody would want to see, and would probably mark the end of his career (dude's old and does not have many movies left in him).
I don't have a strong attachment to Max, even as Fury Road is one of my favorite movies of recent times. He's always been a bit of a nothing character, the stereotypical "Man of No Name" of westerns injected into the post-apocalypse. He's an excuse for action to revolve around. A woman can serve just as much as an excuse, and I'll be happy enough if that's the case. But if Miller wants to try to make it more than what it is just
because a woman is starring, well, maybe he'll pull it off and we'll get an even better movie than Fury Road, which I'd love, but I think it's more likely to either be flubbed, or just not be the Mad Maxian action movie that I want to see.