Anya Taylor-Joy had a big 2024 working with acclaimed directors. Between her surprise cameo in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two and her starring role in George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, she spent much of the year working in prominent franchises under the direction of breakaway creators. The actor indeed snagged the role of Imperator Furiosa in Miller’s newest action epic thanks to the recommendation of another big-name director, Edgar Wright, who cast her in his dreamy 2021 horror film Last Night in Soho. With so much behind her, she has certainly found her niche in Hollywood.

Even before 2024, she was a lead in numerous well-recognized productions. Oscar-nominated director David O’Russell also dialed Taylor-Joy’s number, casting her in his 2022 all-star period film Amsterdam, as did M. Night Shyamalan, who put the actor in his Unbreakable sequels Split and Glass. But the first major filmmaker to recognize Taylor-Joy’s talents was Robert Eggers, whose 2015 psychological-horror movie The Witch proved to be the actor’s breakthrough. Taylor-Joy returned to the wild world of Eggers for 2022’s brutal revenge film The Northman. Since then, she has only continued to boost her career by starring in many award-winning movies.

Did you know: Stephen King praised The Witch, tweeting "The Witch scared the hell out of me. And it's a real movie, tense and thought-provoking as well as visceral."

Taylor-Joy And Scott’s Morgan Is Coming To Max In 2025

It Was Luke Scott’s Directorial Debut

Fast on the heels of her breakout performance in The Witch, Taylor-Joy popped up on Ridley Scott’s radar screen. Scott was impressed enough that the legendary filmmaker cast her in Morgan, a sci-fi/horror film he produced, with his son Luke Scott taking the reins for his directorial debut. Taylor-Joy was not the only prominent standout. The younger Scott had the privilege of guiding a talented cast on his first film, including Kata Mara, Toby Jones, Rose Leslie, Boyd Holbrook, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Yeoh, and Paul Giamatti.

That all-star cast can be seen alongside Taylor-Joy when Morgan finds a new streaming home on Max beginning on January 1, 2025. The film hits the streamer nine years after its 2016 theatrical release. It is one of Taylor-Joy's earliest Hollywood stand-outs, as it was only her major feature-length movie. Even then, it was only her second with an actual credit to her name.

For Fans Of:

• Anya Taylor-Joy movies.
• Ridley Scott’s brand of science-fiction.
• Speculative movies about the future of technology.
• All-star casts working in concert.

Why You Should Watch Anya Taylor-Joy & Ridley Scott’s Morgan

The Film Asks Provocative Questions About The Boundaries Of Science

A sci-fi story along the lines of M3GAN and Ex Machina, Morgan stars Taylor-Joy as an artificial being, created via a combination of synthesized DNA and nanotechnology. Taylor-Joy's character, the titular Morgan, begins exhibiting disturbing behavior at the research facility where she lives. The genetic engineering company responsible for creating her sends a risk-management specialist (Kate Mara's Lee Weathers) to investigate the matter, and it soon becomes apparent that the company's prized experiment is not everything she seems. Her innocent appearance hides a violent instinct that clashes with her physical and emotional augmentations.

The elder Scott loves making sci-fi that explores moral and philosophical questions, and Morgan is no exception. The movie challenges viewers to ponder the very nature of humanity, while asking tough ethical questions about genetic engineering and other scientific endeavors. It often wonders if these augmentations arguably cross the line into playing God. Though the movie is directed by Scott’s son, it retains a chilly, intellectual feel and a set of thematic concerns similar to the elder Scott’s Prometheus and Raised By Wolves. All the while, it features excellent performances and includes some thrilling plot twists.

The questions raised by Morgan are indeed intriguing, but the movie’s main draw is its cast, which includes several Oscar nominees. Only someone with the elder Scott’s clout could draw so many big names to a movie with a budget of only around $8 million. But even among such an impressive cast of actors, Taylor-Joy stands out as Morgan, offering an early demonstration of the uncanny talents she would later display in acclaimed works like The Queen’s Gambit, The Menu, and Furiosa.

What The New Platform Could Mean For Morgan

Poor responses from audiences and critics alike helped to sink the movie before it could find a proper place within Hollywood. It earned just $8.8 million, which was not enough to achieve profitability off of its $8 million budget. However, the movie was released in 2016, shortly before the streaming boom that helped to revolutionize Hollywood. Today, studios consider streaming success even during pre-production and the potential greenlighting stage. Had it been part of Hollywood's calculus then, Morgan could have succeeded even despite poor critical and financial responses:

Now that it is heading to streaming, it could receive renewed interest. Previously, it was only available by buying or renting. With such low Rotten Tomatoes scores, it was unlikely that anyone would invest money into renting it. On a streaming platform, however, more people may be willing to take the risk. Morgan is not a perfect movie, but audiences may still seek it out now that there is no added cost. Being on a mainstream streaming platform could help reach a new audience that could actually enjoy the eerie tone.

What ScreenRant Has Said:

The biggest highlight of the film is arguably Taylor-Joy, who first made a name for herself in this year's The Witch. She is exceptionally disarming as Morgan, finding the right balance between creepy and sympathetic. Due to her physical appearance, a number of the scenes featuring Morgan come across as unsettling, but Taylor-Joy finds another layer to give the final product a bit more heart than it would have otherwise. - Morgan review

Other Anya Taylor-Joy Movies On Streaming Right Now:

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (MAX)
• Last Night in Soho (Peacock)
• The Northman (Hulu, Peacock)
• Amsterdam (Hulu)
• The Menu (Hulu)