Anya Taylor-Joy’s Underrated Sci-Fi Epic That Keeps Getting Better Finally Gets the Attention It Deserves on Streaming
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Anya Taylor-Joy has only starred in one movie so far this year, but it’s wasted no time in becoming the biggest film of 2026 at the worldwide box office. She can be seen reprising her role as Princess Peach in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to the 2023 video game movie that also recruited Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) and Donald Glover (TV’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith) for key roles. Taylor-Joy is far from done in 2026, though, even after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie flies out of theaters and inevitably begins what will surely be a successful run on streaming. She’ll make her long-awaited return to TV with a new Apple TV series, Lucky, which co-stars Timothy Olyphant. The show has been set for its premiere on July 15.

Anya Taylor-Joy has been in enough projects now that it’s tough to identify what she’s best known for, but one of her most notable movies, for better or worse, is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The 2024 sci-fi blockbuster was one of the most anticipated movies of the year, especially with the combined star power of Taylor-Joy and long-time Marvel veteran Chris Hemsworth (Crime 101). The Mad Max prequel boasts a $168 million budget, but it barely managed to gross this back, scraping out of theaters after totaling $174 million at the worldwide box office. Despite this woeful box office performance, Furiosa has spent the better part of the last two years redeeming itself on streaming, where it’s still one of the top 10 most popular movies in the world on HBO Max. The film is the perfect blend of Mad Max and Gladiator, guaranteed to please fans of sci-fi and large-scale action sequences.



















































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

01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.





02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.





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.





04

How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.





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.





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.





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.





08

What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.





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.

What Happens in ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’?

The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy, reads as follows:

“After being snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, while the tyrants Dementus and Immortan Joe fight for power and control, the young Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”

Furiosa earned immaculate scores of 90% from critics and 88% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, which made its flopping at the box office that much more surprising. The film was written and directed by Mad Max veteran George Miller, who has personally handled multiple generations of Mad Max movies starring Mel Gibson, Tom Hardy, and Charlize Theron.

Check out Furiosa on HBO Max and stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates and coverage of Taylor-Joy’s future projects.


01625605_poster_w780.jpg


Release Date

May 24, 2024

Runtime

149 minutes

Director

George Miller


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