Anya Taylor-Joy jokes about producing Lucky with Reese Witherspoon — and drops a three-word verdict

Anya Taylor-Joy is in her do-everything era. She broke out with The Witch and Split, leveled up with The Queen's Gambit, and has since gone full franchise with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Dune. Now she is pushing on two fronts at once: producing and starring in an Apple TV+ limited series, and hopping into Middle-earth for the next Lord of the Rings movie.

She is not just starring in Lucky, she is building it

Apple TV+ has Lucky on the way, a limited series based on Marissa Stapley’s novel about a con artist whose life goes sideways after a heist blows up. It is a seven-episode thriller built around a woman on the run, and Taylor-Joy is doing double duty: headlining on screen and producing through her LadyKiller banner.

Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine is steering the show as executive producer, and Taylor-Joy has been pretty open about how much she is learning from that team. Speaking to Variety about working so closely with Witherspoon’s company, she did not play it cool:

"She loves creators with strong voices and I really felt like I was given the chance to learn and to grow and to really be a part of this. I am really really proud of the collaboration of this team."

That is the tell: Lucky is not just another gig for her. It is a female-led crime story she is shaping from the ground up, with the kind of producer-level say that tends to change how an actor chooses future projects.

Then she heads to Middle-earth: The Hunt for Gollum

Taylor-Joy is also joining The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which slots between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. She is playing Seren, a Sindar Elf from the Woodland Realm who is described as a trusted and dangerous agent of King Thranduil — not exactly background-extra energy.

• Director and star: Andy Serkis is directing and returning as Gollum.
• Returning cast: Ian McKellen is back as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Lee Pace as Thranduil.
• Timeline: The story tracks the pursuit of Gollum in the years leading up to The Fellowship of the Ring.
• Taylor-Joy’s role: Seren’s positioning inside Thranduil’s orbit hints at a sharp, capable operator within Elven ranks — very much in her wheelhouse.