About a year later, while travelling from Los Angeles to Australia, the idea coalesced. The idea for a fourth instalment occurred to Miller in August 1998 when he was walking in an intersection in Los Angeles. In 1995, George Miller re-acquired the rights to future Mad Max films from Warner Bros. Plans for a fourth film in the Mad Max series hit financial difficulties and the project spent several years in " development hell". It also carries the theme of female empowerment. The Biblical theme of redemption has been described by critics, especially Nux's constant aspiration to be taken to Valhalla. The unity of these characters also harnesses a concern for family, a common theme within Miller's filmography.
Scott wrote: "The themes of vengeance and solidarity, the wide-open spaces and the kinetic, ground-level movement mark Fury Road as a western, and the filmmakers pay tribute to such masters of the genre as John Ford, Budd Boetticher and, not least, Chuck Jones, whose Road Runner cartoons are models of ingenuity and rigor." Similar to the previous Mad Max films, home has been regarded as a central theme in Mad Max: Fury Road as it dominates the motivations of Max, Furiosa, and the Five Wives: his home was destroyed, she was taken from her home, and the wives are in search of a new home to raise their children. In his review of Mad Max: Fury Road, film critic A. Further themes pointed out by critics have included vengeance, solidarity, home, and redemption.