Anya Taylor-Joy’s penchant for offbeat and fascinating characters has led to her prominence in independent film. In recent years, that has led to household stardom in franchises such as the critically acclaimed Furiosa and Dune. The Witch actor had a fleeting appearance in Dune: Part Two as the unborn sister of Paul Atreides (Timotheé Chalamet) in a prescient vision. This has only stirred fan fervor for her to appear in Dune: Part Three as Alia Atreides, the female death spirit who walks without feet.
There are many months to wait for her next anticipated character, but until then, viewers can catch one of her most underrated performances in the science fiction genre. In 2025, Taylor-Joy starred alongside Miles Teller in The Gorge, an Apple TV film that fired on all cylinders. While this wasn’t apparent judging from reviews, the feature was a treasure that deserves a lot more attention.
‘The Gorge’ Is a Genre Mash-Up Everyone Needed
A couple of decades ago, an action-thriller movie with a heartfelt love story wasn’t so rare. Films like The Mummy benefited greatly from this genre mash-up, and The Gorge is only picking up where that franchise left off. Completely unserious as any good action film is, this story follows two snipers from different backgrounds.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.
APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it.
BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don’t keep you alive.
CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who’s pulling the strings.
DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it.
EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can’t fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don’t need resources — you can generate them.
BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it.
CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on.
EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant.
BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left.
CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you’re a problem, you’re already out of time.
DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn’t even know I was playing.
EThe Empire tightening its grip until there’s nowhere left to run.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it.
BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better.
CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy.
DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can’t beat a system you refuse to understand.
EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest.
CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions.
DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand.
EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire’s attention rarely reaches.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
AA tight crew of believers who’ve seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose.
BOne or two people I’d trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks.
CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice.
DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last.
EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
AI won’t harm the innocent — even the ones who’d report me without hesitation.
BI do what I have to to protect the people I’ve chosen. Everything else is negotiable.
CThe line shifts depending on who’s asking and what’s at stake.
DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people’s future, even if it’d help now.
ESome lines, once crossed, can’t be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it.
BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving.
CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out.
DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations.
EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else’s boot.
REVEAL MY WORLD →
Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Levi (Miles Teller) is an ex-US military sniper, while Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a Lithuanian with a similar skill set. Both are assigned to the Gorge, the aptly titled cavern, where they protect opposing outposts. Forbidden from communicating with each other, they are instructed to stop anything from coming out of the Gorge, without knowing what’s inside. Levi and Drasa fall in love easily, but the fun of the thrilling narrative is seeing the romance come to fruition. Both isolated and enduring personal foibles, they are the only comfort each other has.
Even more fantastic is the sharp turn that the film takes when Levi has to parachute into the Gorge. Drasa wastes no time in going after him, though blind to the horrors that await. The romance in The Gorge supports the main story, which ultimately turns into a lively horror ride. Levi and Drasa team up to discover that the area is a Silent Hill-level horror show filled with mutated people and other monsters.
It is a race to find out how to escape and what happened to create this place in the first place. This is a compelling second half to the story, which leads to a pulse-pounding finale. The narrative beats may be familiar in some ways, but The Gorge offers comfort and heart in an increasingly algorithm-centered entertainment industry.
‘The Gorge’ May Go On To Be a Cult Classic
The Gorge was a sleeper hit on streaming, outpacing the George Clooney and Brad Pitt caper, Wolfs. Critics were hard on the action flick, but such is the case for many features that go on to be beloved. The most important aspect of the story was the central relationship between the characters. Levi and Drasa are people who experience the dismal reality of loneliness, and it is genuinely heartwarming to see them find common ground with each other.
The Gorge also expertly diverts into horror-adjacent territory as soon as the pair enters the titular location. The eerie Hollow Men deliver thrills that elevate the story from a typical action film. Levi and Drasa find answers where the supposedly supernatural terrors actually have a real-world explanation. These horrific creatures were creations of the government and are protected because they are still using the mutations in the Gorge for their own purposes.
The real villain being the US government, is a concept that just gets better with age. This climax leads to a resolution for the characters that isn’t exactly surprising, but welcome nonetheless. Humor, romance, and adventure all come together in a feature that doesn’t need to be gritty to have merit. The fun and thrills of The Gorge are enough to draw audiences and keep them engaged the near future.
Release Date
February 28, 2025
Runtime
127 Minutes
Director
Scott Derrickson
