# Anya Taylor-Joy’s breakout movie gave horror a different kind of female lead

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/anya-taylor-joys-breakout-movie-gave-horror-a-different-kind-of-female-lead/
- Published: 2026-10-23T07:26:19+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:09:16+00:00
- Original publisher: Polygon
- Original article: https://www.polygon.com/anya-taylor-joy-the-witch-free-streaming-october-2026/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film, Horror, TV

## Key points

- *The Witch* launched Anya Taylor-Joy’s film career.
- Thomasin’s survival comes through embracing evil.
- The film is free with adverts on Plex.

## Summary

Anya Taylor-Joy’s breakout role in *The Witch* recast the horror “final girl” as someone who survives by embracing the force threatening her, rather than defeating it. The 2015 film launched Taylor-Joy and director Robert Eggers into wider recognition, and its unsettling ending remains open to readings of either damnation or liberation.

Set in 1630s New England, the film follows an isolated Puritan family whose hardships and grief turn them against their eldest daughter, Thomasin. After her family makes her a scapegoat, she accepts the demonic goat Black Phillip’s offer and enters the woods. The article says *The Witch* is streaming free with adverts on Plex and is also included with Prime Video.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.