Mad Max: Fury of the Gods was planned to be made into an animation after 15 years of preparation

While Mad Max: Fury of the Gods is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, this Mad Max prequel was in the works long before the action classic Fury Road hit theaters.

"Story-wise, Mad Max was ready 15 years ago," Doug Mitchell said in the new issue of Total Film magazine, which goes on sale Thursday and features Mad Max on its cover. "It's been brewing in George's mind ever since."

George Miller, who was far away in Sydney, introduced: "We completed the script of "Fury Road" before filming "Fury Road"."

The road to this film has indeed been a long one. At one point, Rampage was conceived as an anime project called The Peach, to be directed by Maeda Masahiro, who has worked on a slew of well-known productions, from 90s classic Neon Genesis Evangelion to the works of Studio Ghibli and one of the shorts in The Matrix Animation Collection.

More than a decade later, it's finally coming to theaters. Fury stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a warrior who travels through the wasteland: Fury. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke will also join the cast of this Mad Max: Fury Road spinoff.

Mad Max: Fury of the Gods is set to be released on May 24.