Anya Taylor-Joy has enjoyed a profitable relationship with the streaming service Netflix, as evidenced by the success of the 2020 coming-of-age period drama, The Queen’s Gambit. Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy who embarks on a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world. Between Netflix and Taylor-Joy, the duo were able to make The Queen’s Gambit a thought-provoking watch as a woman is yet to win the official overall World Chess Championship in real life. In their next collaboration, Netflix and Taylor-Joy are not backing down from the controversial.
As far as 2026 is concerned, Taylor-Joy has already enjoyed a successful stint as far as movie releases are concerned. The Menu star returned to the Mario universe alongside Chris Pratt earlier this year with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. With a return to the dangers of Arrakis in Dune: Part Three already penciled in for later this year, the film star is poised to join one of the most famous franchises ever when The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum premieres next year. Cast as Seren, an original character, Taylor-Joy will play the role of a Sindar elf assassin and outrider for King Thranduil (Lee Pace) of Mirkwood. However, before joining the forces of good in preparation for a showdown against the Dark Lord, the actress will play a character who does not fight evil, but embodies it.
As part of its October 2026 outlay, Netflix will officially begin streaming Sacrifice in the United States and France on Friday, October 16. The thriller, which may not be particularly controversial, has the potential of being exactly that as it blends into one fiery brew — an actual volcano, a deadly, deranged cult, celebrity culture and eco warriors. Co-starring Chris Evans as Mike Tyler, a film star with his career nosediving, Sacrifice follows as he seeks a comeback, but those plans soon grind to a halt. While in attendance at an exclusive gala, Tyler is snatched by a radical terrorist group led by the enigmatic zealot Joan (played by Taylor-Joy). Joan and her cult are of the belief that tossing Tyler in a volcano nearby would help prevent utter destruction from engulfing the world. Also arriving this week on the streaming service is the fourth season of the Emmy-winning political thriller, The Diplomat and Netflix Originals, The Disciple and Therapy Done Right, among others.
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
How Good Might ‘Sacrifice’ Be?
Besides Evans and Taylor-Joy, Sacrifice also stars Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), Salma Hayek Pinault (House of Gucci), John Malkovich (Con Air), Sam Richardson (Veep), and Ambika Mod (One Day). Charli XCX, and Yung Lean also star in the action thriller. Romain Gavras’ Sacrifice first made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, where it received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. The action thriller currently holds a weak approval rating of 37% on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The official synopsis for Sacrifice reads as follows:
“After the fiery death of their mother, Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her siblings, driven by a mysterious volcanic prophecy, believe it is their duty to cleanse the Earth. Their radical group hijacks a glamorous charity gala and takes three unlikely hostages for a sacrificial ritual: their hero, movie star Mike Tyler (Chris Evans); their villain, pragmatically cold billionaire Ben Bracken (Vincent Cassel); and their lover, an unlucky performer named Katie (Ambika Mod). As the night descends into chaos, both an inward journey and an outward adventure ensue, where the line between performance and belief, salvation and sacrifice, begins to blur.”
Check out Sacrifice on Netflix on October 16 and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Anya Taylor-Joy’s future projects.
Release Date
October 16, 2026
Runtime
103 minutes
Director
Romain Gavras
Writers
Will Arbery, Romain Gavras
Producers
Giorgos Karnavas, Gregory Jankilevitsch, Jacob Perlin, Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Robert Walak, Romain Gavras