Here’s What We Know About Furiosa’s Ally, Praetorian Jack

Furiosa’s almost here! And she’s bringing a new character with her. No, I’m not talking about Chris Hemsworth’s unhinged gang leader Dementus—I’m referring to Tom Burke’s mysterious new character Praetorian Jack.

Warner Bros. is keeping details under wraps, but here’s what we know about this character so far!

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel to 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, exploring the early years of the titular Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy). Opening with Furiosa’s abduction from her childhood home, the Green Place of Many Mothers, Furiosa is a post-apocalyptic odyssey in which Furiosa grows up in the Wasteland and tries to make her way home.

The two trailers for the film show Furiosa’s struggles against Dementus and the fearsome warlord Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), with an abundance of motorcycle chases and explosions. They also include a couple of brief and intriguing shots of a character with his forehead painted black. In one shot, he and Furiosa sit with their foreheads touching. In another, Furiosa startles awake from a dream, and he calmly grabs the weapon in her hand.

This character is Praetorian Jack, and it’s clear from the forehead-touching scene that he and Furiosa are close.

We don’t know much about Praetorian Jack yet. However, Burke has opened up about him in interviews with various news outlets. As Immortan Joe’s war rig driver, Jack takes the young Furiosa under his wing, teaching her the skills that she’ll eventually use when she works as Joe’s Imperator in Mad Max: Fury Road.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Praetorian Jack is a “noble” and “heroic” character. Burke shares that he and director George Miller came up with a backstory for Jack. “George’s idea, which is alluded to in the script, is that Jack is very much from a military family,” Burke says, “and that they perhaps knew Immortan Joe before he was the Immortan Joe, and that there was a journey to the Citadel and a certain idea of what that life might be that was very different from what it turned out to be.”

So what is Jack’s connection with Furiosa? Are they mentor and mentee, or is there perhaps more going on? Audiences don’t have to wait long to find out. Furiosa hits theaters on May 24.