Here’s Anya Taylor-Joy out for lunch with a friend yesterday in LA. It’s a perfect summer lunch outfit – striped belted shirt over shorts and flats, Dior tote, and headphones. Proper headphones. It makes me happy to see others who prefer headphones over earbuds because as I’ve said before, earbuds for me are useless. They never stay in. 

 

This sighting of ATJ is timely, because there was a work announcement this week: she’s returning to Netflix in the series adaptation of Bella Mackie’s book, How To Kill Your Family. Per Netflix

“The eight-episode series follows Grace, who has a complicated family. Her dad is Simon Artemis, a billionaire and ruthless social climber. Grace is the product of an affair Simon claims not to remember, which left Grace and her mom to fend for themselves. When her mother dies and Grace is rejected by the people who should love her, she transforms her anger into something useful — killing off her estranged extended family via morbidly creative means. Soon, Grace is clawing her way toward revenge and a hefty inheritance. But her mission pulls her away from what she really needs.”

 

So, yeah, this is perfect casting. Anya’s production company is actually called LadyKiller. And it’s the kind of role that will likely play big across demographics and on social media. I can already see the memes now – ATJ pulling off a murder with sly eyes, a red lip, with her hair styled in the most perfect low pony. But deeper than that because we all know she has the talent to add more dimension to a straight up revenge story. 

But the timing also works for her professionally as she’s coming off… well… can we call Furiosa a flop? The film was well received by critics but there were hopes for it to perform better than it did at the box office. Sarah was one of the few people who always knew that it was unlikely to meet those (now unrealistic) expectations but the Furiosa hype was there and then it wasn’t. Which is why ATJ seems to have lost some momentum, especially when you consider where we were nearly four years ago this fall. 

 

Anya had been on the rise for sure up to that point, but then came The Queen’s Gambit in October 2020. We were all still in lockdown and watching everything and that series blew up, taking her to the next level of stardom. None of her leading role projects since then have hit for her in the same way. But with How To Kill Your Family and a return to Netflix, it’s like a soft reset for her, a very good move.