While Anya Taylor-Joy made a name for herself in movies like “The Witch” and “Split,” she fully became a household name in 2020 with “The Queen’s Gambit.”
Six years later, she is ready to return to the world of miniseries with “Lucky” on Apple TV — this time, as an executive producer as well.
“I felt like I had something I could add to the show, I could really see how I could contribute as a producer,” she told TheWrap at Monday night’s premiere at the DGA in Hollywood. “You never want to jump on something where you think, ‘Ah, that’s already done for me.’ I want to get my hands dirty and I want to be in on the construction floor. I feel like I achieved that.”
Taylor-Joy plays the titular character in “Lucky,” based on the 2021 novel by Marissa Stapley and co-showrun by Cassie Pappas and series creator Jonathan Tropper. They were all joined on the red carpet by co-stars Drew Starkey, William Fichtner, Matthew Rauch, Artur Zai Barrera, Eric Lange, Mo McRae, Clifton Collins Jr. and Annette Bening, as well as director Greg Yaitanes, editor Byron Smith and EPs Jonathan Van Tulleken, Lauren Neustadter and Reese Witherspoon.
“I feel very fortunate that every person that we wanted for each of our roles, we got our first choice,” the actress added. “Anytime I was watching any of the scenes that I was in or was not in, I just felt so, so proud of our cast and I’m proud of the collaboration of everybody. We really had a good time making this.”
The seven-episode crime-drama series follows Taylor-Joy’s con artist Lucky as she is “forced to go on the run, pursued by both the FBI and a ruthless crime boss,” per the logline.
“I think there’s an element of wish-fulfillment. There’s a part of you that wants to look at a scene and go, ‘God, I hope that I would have that audacity or the wits to get through that.’ I also think, fundamentally, it’s probably at the core of the American story, in some way, shape or form,” Taylor-Joy shared. “All Lucky wants is a normal life. She just wants to be able to live in a house with people who know her real name and build friends, and not feel like it’s all going to crumble. That alternate take on the American con story really interested me.”
“Lucky” hits the ground running with a two-episode premiere on July 15, followed by new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV.
