Anya Taylor-Joy’s Next Role is a Dark Take on Foodie Culture

Anya Taylor-Joy appears to have found her next niche drama hit. The Queen’s Gambit star is moving on from the realm of top-tier competitive chess to that of “eccentric culinary culture” with the upcoming dark comedy thriller series The Menu, according to Deadline. Taylor-Joy is said to play one half a young couple that jets off to a faraway island to indulge in a tasting menu cooked up by a renowned chef, played by Ralph Fiennes. To add further intrigue, several behind-the-scenes players from Succession are involved as well.

If the plot sounds familiar, that’s because casting rumors about the film—which was at one point described as a “Tarantino-esque take on The One-Percent”—have been swirling for years. Taylor-Joy’s role was originally linked to Emma Stone, while Academy Award-winner Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Sideways) was set to direct. The director’s chair seems to have since passed on to Mark Mylod, which sounds promising enough. He’s a producer and frequent director of episodes of Succession. Adam McKay, a Succession executive producer, is on board in that same role. The script was written by Will Tracy and Seth Reiss. Tracy is not only the former editor-in-chief of The Onion but has also written an episode of, you guessed it, Succession.

However, the casting rumors continue. If Collider’s unnamed “sources” are to be believed, Daniel Radcliffe may come on board to play himself. (If so, it would make for the Harry Potter star’s first on-screen reunion with Fiennes since he played Radcliffe’s mortal enemy, Voldemort.) Alas, it doesn’t seem like we’ll know the final lineup any time soon. There’s also the open role of Taylor-Joy’s boyfriend as well.

With any luck, The Menu won’t get held up as long as Taylor-Joy’s other darkly psychological thriller, Last Night in Soho, which has been delayed twice within the past year. Now set for an October 22 release, the film stars Thomasin McKenzie as a fashion student who discovers that she transforms into Taylor-Joy when time-traveling back to the Swinging Sixties—an experience nowhere near as glamorous as you’d think.