Anya Taylor-Joy Masters the Game of Chess in ‘The Queen’s Gambit’

Anya Taylor-Joy is a long way from Emma in her latest project. Netflix gave us a first look at the actress’s starring role in the upcoming phsycological thriller series The Queen’s Gambit, where she plays Beth Harmon,a drug-addicted master chess player in the 1950s.

The Queen’s Gambit, which is based on the 1983 novel by author Walter Tevis, tells the story of a young woman who turns to chess as a way to pass the time in her Kentucky orphanage. While she discovers her incredible talent for the game, she also develops a dangerous addiction to tranquilizers, drugs which are provided by the state to sedate the children of the orphanage.

“Haunted by her personal demons and fueled by a cocktail of narcotics and obsession,” Netflix’s synopsis reads, “Beth transforms into an impressively skilled and glamorous outcast while determined to conquer the traditional boundaries established in the male-dominated world of competitive chess.”

The upcoming series comes from Godless showrunner Scott Frank, who co-created, wrote and directed The Queen’s Gambit. Along with Taylor-Joy, the project also stars Marielle Heller as a housewife-turned friend of Beth, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as her chess rival, Moses Ingram as Beth’s fellow orphan, Harry Melling as a chess pro and Bill Camp as an orphanage janitor.

The Netflix series is just one of a few big projects Taylor-Joy has starred in this year. She kicked off 2020 with her performance in Emma, and is set to star in The New Mutants when it finally hits theaters Aug. 28. She’s previously appeared in the 2015 horror film The Witch, and also had a recurring role as Gina Gray on Peaky Blinders in 2019.

The Queen’s Gambit comes to Netflix Oct. 23. Watch the teaser trailer in the video above and check out the first look photos from the series below.