He played it brilliantly but action roles rarely get any attention at oscar time
Then it's time the rules were changed.

He played it brilliantly but action roles rarely get any attention at oscar time

It was perfect casting. It didn't feel like, "oh, hey, he played the villain in the first movie, so let's bring him back to play a new villain in this movie." It felt like the rule of Immortan Joe was 2000made FOR him to stand completely alone from Toecutter. If you remember, he was just a psychotic, sadistic biker who inflicted pain and chaos because he thought it was fun. Joe was a greedy despot dictator who held people against their will and inflicted pain and chaos because he thought it was fun.
Regardless, I know AND feel that Mr. Keays-Byrne was not put in the movie for nostalgia sake. He was there to play yet another terrifying bad-ass villain who we would NOT want coming after us.
Toecutter was the best villain of the original trilogy. He was the most memorable, as well as the scariest. Lord Humungus wasn't all that intimidating. He looked like Casey Jones joined a strip club. Aunty Entity, what a letdown she was. Now we get to the new film, and Immortan Joeoh my God! THAT is a Mad Max villain. And like true villains, they THINK what they're doing is right. They don't realize, and if they did, I don't think they'd care, that they ARE evil and THEY are the cause of misery, and their efforts to stop what they view as trouble only prove that they themselves are evil and causing the trouble. THAT is how you create a villain, you don't just throw in some one-note joke and make him/her evil for evil sake. A villain doesn't believe they are a villain.
What I'm trying to say is, when it's Oscar time, I expect HK-B to be nominated.

I had no idea he was the same actor who was in the original til I came here. Funny thing is, during the movie I was wondering if Bruce Spence would be in it since he played 2 different (though similar) characters in previous mad max films.