10 Years Later, Anya Taylor-Joy's 117-Minute Thriller Still Beats Any Movie She Ever Made

Published Oct 10, 2026, 6:05 PM EDT

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Carolyn Jenkins is a voracious consumer of film and television. She graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Producing where she learned the art of character, plot, and structure. The best teacher is absorbing media and she spends her time reading about different worlds from teen angst to the universe of Stephen King.

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For many, Anya Taylor-Joy’s definitive performance occurred in the 2015 folk horror movie, The Witch. Perfect for any spooky season viewing, Robert Eggers’ magnum opus was the perfect introduction to the star on the rise in the role of the unfairly maligned Puritan girl, Thomasin. The Witch would prove to be just the beginning of the actor’s career, as the following year, she starred in the thriller of a lifetime.

This was when M. Night Shyamalan directed his soft sequel to Unbreakable, which audiences were shocked to learn in the theater. Split was a return to the interconnected world of Philadelphia that housed the director’s own cast of superheroes. After David Dunn (Bruce Willis) combats Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) in the first film, a new villain in the making arises. James McAvoy portrays the terrifying antagonist who goes by many names in Split, the story that proved Taylor-Joy was not just a flash in the pan.

‘Split’ Is More Than Its Twist Ending

M. Night Shyamalan had a certain reputation for not meeting the potential of his previous movies of the ‘90s, but Split was a return to form. Giving little indication that it was a continuation of a previous story, the movie follows Anya Taylor-Joy’s Casey, who finds herself in a dire situation when a strange man gets into the driver’s seat of a car she’s in. Casey and her friends are kidnapped, and Split races by in 117 minutes as they try to escape with their lives.

What could have been written off as a typical thriller is elevated by Taylor-Joy’s undeniable approach to the material. Her performance shows Casey’s emotional intelligence from the beginning, as it slowly dawns on her the trouble she is actually in. Kevin Wendell Crumb isn’t a run-of-the-mill stalker but a man who boasts of having 23 different personalities. Living with DID, Kevin’s personalities have taken control, driving him to kidnap the girls.

Taylor-Joy’s performance anchors the film in a battle of wits between Casey and her captor. The character’s own experience with sexual abuse colors her perception and makes it easier for her to empathize with Kevin than her friends Marcia and Claire. Both girls die in captivity, but Casey’s strength of spirit and wits help her get out of this terrifying happenstance.

Many remember James McAvoy’s astounding performance, and for good reason. He takes on these personalities without hesitation, physically transforming his body into one of the dominant personalities known as “The Beast.” It is Taylor-Joy, however, who stands out because of the deep well of emotion she brings to the role. While Shyamalan is known for his twists, Split is impressive in its own right. The ending reveals that the movie is part of a connected universe as it sets up a third movie, Glass.

Even so, Split stands on its own as a movie worth revisiting again and again. Shyamalan is adept at weaponizing the thriller genre, and Taylor-Joy’s role early on in her career pulled all of these corresponding elements together. Split showed that these movies don’t need to be defined by their twists and was just the beginning of the young actor’s domination in Hollywood.