Anya Taylor-Joy expresses gratitude over opportunity after devastating LA wildfires

Anya Taylor-Joy felt grateful to be able to shoot her new TV show Lucky in Los Angeles after the devastating wildfires.

In the upcoming crime thriller, The Queen's Gambit star plays Lucky Armstrong, a reformed criminal who is forced to confront her past and return to illegal activities for one final job.

The six-month shoot began in early 2025, not long after the devastation of the California wildfires.

Taylor-Joy, who is an executive producer on the series as well, explained that they considered moving the production, but ultimately decided to keep it in LA to support local crews who may have lost their homes.

"There had been a conversation about not shooting in LA, but one of the things I'm most proud of is that we did keep (production) in LA and with an LA crew," she told L'Officiel USA.

Taylor-Joy continued, "I think everyone was just so happy to be with each other and working and doing something that felt constructive. I was with people who had just lost their entire homes, you know?"

The Split actress, who divides her time between London and LA, admitted that she was also struggling with a personal loss because her dog died the day filming began in February 2025.

"We were all kind of experiencing something, and rather than sitting in it and just being in pain, we were working together and doing something," she mentioned.

Lucky, based on Marissa Stapley's 2021 novel, follows Taylor-Joy's character on the run from both the FBI and a mob boss after a heist went horribly wrong. As a result, the star spent many night shoots running in LA and Las Vegas.

"I have a real soft spot for Caesars Palace now - we've been through a lot together," she quipped. "And we pretty much kept up that pace the whole way through filming. I feel like I have literally run through most of California at this point."

The Anya Taylor-Joy starrer, Lucky, also starring Timothy Olyphant and Annette Bening, will premiere on Apple TV on July 15.