Based on the novel by Jessie Burton, the three-part mini-series The Miniaturist (airing in the U.S. on Masterpiece on PBS) is set in 1686 and follows 18-year-old Petronella Oortman (Anya Taylor-Joy), or Nella, who shows up in Amsterdam with hopes of dreams of beginning a new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt (Alex Hassell). But after meeting his cold sister (Romola Garai) and their servants (Hayley Squires, Paapa Essiedu) and realizing just how many secrets they’re all hiding, and receiving a wedding gift that is a miniature replica of their home that seems to mysteriously predict the future in unsettling ways.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, actress Anya Taylor-Joy talked about what attracted her to The Miniaturist and this role, how modern this story feels, the incredible miniatures that were custom built, the fun of playing a character who gets to find her own voice, and getting used to wearing a corset without suffocating. She also talked about working with M. Night Shyamalan on Split and Glass, and when and how she found out just what story they were telling, as well as why she loves her New Mutants character, and her desire to keep playing characters that feel real and identifiable.

Collider: This is such an interesting story. It’s so strange and bizarre, and yet still somehow feels very modern.

ANYA TAYLOR-JOY: Very modern. I think what’s interesting about it, and what we knew going into it and all became aware of as we were filming it, as we spent more and more time with the characters, and it’s my favorite aspect of the story, is that societies stop once the door closes. Within this house, they’re all continuously subverting their stereotypes and being oddballs. They’re all safe within this house, and I think that’s really wonderful.

Did you ever get to play with all of the miniatures?

TAYLOR-JOY: No. We were all fascinated because the cabinet hadn’t been made until we were about a third of the way through because, obviously, the craftsmanship was so intense. We were all so excited the day that it arrived, and then once we saw it, we were like, “Whoa, that’s really intense!” It was miniatures of us, and they looked just like us. They were brilliant, but at the same time, it was weird, holding your friends in your hands in tiny doll form, that were wearing the exact same outfit that you were wearing. You were just like, “Okay, I’m good now. I’m putting them away!”

Did you ever try to sneak away with one of them?

TAYLOR-JOY: No. We did have the conversation of, “Should we keep them? Otherwise, somebody would have little voodoo dolls of us, in a random cupboard or drawer,” but no. They were very meticulous with the miniatures because they were so tiny.

What were most excited about with this character, and what made you most nervous about playing her?

TAYLOR-JOY: I instantly heard her voice. That’s how I usually tend to get into characters. I was initially intrigued by the fact that she was excited to be married to a wealthy man in Amsterdam. She wasn’t like, “Who is this older dude?” She was just like, “Yes, I want to go to Amsterdam and fulfill this role.” What I found really interesting about her is that, in the beginning, her personality is what society’s ideologies have put on her. So, she’s quiet and reserved, and she’s going to be a wife and help out her family and perform her duties, beautifully and gracefully. And then, once she gets in that house, that completely gets wiped away from her and she has no ground to stand on anymore. She really creates her own personality, in a very short amount of time, and I was really excited to do that. She builds herself from the inside out, and I thought that was cool.

Did you ever have to wrap your brain around the fact that she seemed excited about essentially being sold to somebody?

TAYLOR-JOY: I did. If you take that in a modern sense, it’s awful and ghastly, and it should never happen, but in those days, it really was just common practice. I tried to think about it from her point of view, where she lives with her two little brothers and a terrible mum, and she’s desperate to make her own way in the world. She’s 18 and naïve, and Amsterdam is exciting. She’s never really experienced the world, and she’s getting married to somebody who’s traveled all over the place and spends the majority of his life on a boat. That’s exciting for her, even though it’s a naïve point of view.

What do you think she expected when she went there?

TAYLOR-JOY: It punches her pretty fast. It just knocks her down. Even though she’s very mature, and you can see her maturity in the first episode, she’s definitely a child and she has a child’s expectation of this beautiful, handsome man, loving her so much. She believes she’s going to look pretty, have so much money, and her life is going to be charmed. And then, from the second she meets Marin, she’s like, “This is not what I thought it was going to be.” She’s quite petulant, at the beginning. She’s a grown woman, and I think that’s really interesting. She has reflexes like a cat. She’s very malleable, and as every situation arises, she shifts and she’s very curious, which often gets her into trouble. Everything is new, so she’s trying to find a patch of ground where it’s steady underneath her feet, rather than just continuously shifting.

When you do a period piece like this and you get to wear these beautiful costumes, can you even enjoy them, or do you just have to try not to suffocate?

TAYLOR-JOY: I enjoyed them after awhile. My first day in a corset, I’d never worn one before, and it was so intense that it took me a couple of days to get used to it. I had a very wonderful make-up artist and she just kept saying to me, “Honey, breathe. Eventually, you’ll give into it and it will give into you.” And that happened. By the end of it, I loved it. It almost felt like a hug. I felt very supported by my corset, and it was sad to give it up, but at the beginning, I definitely struggled. Even though you can’t see it, we’re all wearing authentic 17^th century gowns and outfits, with stockings and everything completely perfect. That all just makes it easier for you to get into character. Getting dressed, every day, really is putting on another skin, and I really relish that.

How was it to play the dynamic with this relationship between Nella and Johannes?

TAYLOR-JOY: They’re fascinating because she’s desperately looking for her place in the world, and he’s come to the understanding that there isn’t a place in this world for him. They’re both very lonely people and they find a home within each other. She’s building up her personality, as she goes along, but she almost becomes a maternal figure to him, where he feels safe with her because she just loves him. It’s not a romantic love, but it is a genuine, familial, safe love. I think they do that for each other. There’s just this beautiful idea of these two very lonely souls, going through this crazy life together, and I thought that was beautiful. She loves him for who he is. When the door closes on that house and everything strips away, they’re just people. That’s a really beautiful message that the world needs right now, to just treat each other like people, and be kind and generous with each other.

You also have Glass coming out, for M. Night Shyamalan, which I would imagine was quite an experience.

TAYLOR-JOY: That was nuts. It was amazing!

When did you learn that Split was a sequel to Unbreakable, and then, at the same time, did you always know that Glass was eventually going to happen and be a sequel to both of those films?

TAYLOR-JOY: No. Night is a mastermind. Whenever people are like, “Do you ever try to figure out what he’s going to do next?,” I’m like, “No, I just let him be, and when I’m supposed to know, I’ll know.” We went to a test screening in Arizona, just the two of us, and at the end of the movie, I was really buzzing. I’d never seen Split before, and it wasn’t with the ending with David (Bruce Willis) in it. We went outside into the parking lot, and I was really buzzing. I was like, “This is so crazy!” And then, he let me in on it and I was just like, “Oh, my goodness! That’s going to blow people’s minds! That’s so crazy! You have to allow me to come onto set and see you doing it.” And he was just like, “What makes you think you’re not coming, too? Casey is a part of Glass.” I was just like, “Really?! Seriously?!” I was fangirling so hard. I found out about it the way that everyone in the audience found out and was just like, “No way! That’s crazy!” It’s really fun to be part of a movie where you know that it’s a cinematic experience for people. People will remember being in that movie theater and seeing Bruce Willis pop up on screen, and experiencing that mindfuck. It was crazy!

Did that then make Glass feel very different to shoot, actually knowing where it fit in with things?

TAYLOR-JOY: With Split, there was a giant sense of adventure and discovery. We were making something different, and it was weird and everything was so intense. There was a real sense of adventure with Split, whilst with Glass, it felt so epic. Every single day, everyone was so happy to be there because we were aware that we were making cinematic history. That’s a big deal. And then, you see Sam [Jackson] in his costume. I’m a true fangirl, so I was just like, “Oh, my god, that’s Elijah Price! That’s crazy! And I’m in a scene with him. That’s nuts!” I think we were all just so excited to be a part of it, and all very grateful to be a part of something so monumental.

How special and unique does it feel to be a part of something that the filmmaker and creator has been cooking up, for all these years?

TAYLOR-JOY: For like 18 years. I’ve known Night for a long time now, and he’s a very dear friend of mine, so seeing him get emotional behind the monitor and understanding what that means for him gives you goosebumps. We all love him. It’s chilling, in a beautiful way. Keeping it so secret was the hardest part. I’m good at keeping my friend’s secrets, but I’d have to talk about the film, all the time, while keeping that a secret.

Fans have also been waiting for New Mutants for awhile. How exciting is it to be a part of that and to play a character like Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik, and is it frustrating to know that people are having to wait so long to get to see that film?

TAYLOR-JOY: It’s crazy exciting! I love my character. I have such a connection to Illyana. I absolutely adore her, and getting to play her is super fun because she’s sassy and Russian and a little bit psycho. She’s just so much fun to play. And I don’t find [the delay] frustrating because when the film comes out, we want it to be something that will make the fans truly happy. Taking the time to do it, whilst people might find it a little bit frustrating to wait for it, when we deliver it, it’s going to be fantastic. That’s the most important thing. And getting the opportunity to play the character again is just great.

How have the re-shoots affected the tone and direction of what you thought you were making, in the beginning?

TAYLOR-JOY: I think we’re making the movie that we set out to make, in the beginning. That’s what we’re going to end up delivering to people. It feels like the movie we all signed up to do, which is good.

Have you had a chance to take a step back and realize that you’re amassing this group of characters that live in these really interesting, dark worlds, and has that affected where you want to go next?

TAYLOR-JOY: When people call me a scream queen, I find it so funny because 11-year-old me would be like, “How did this happen?” I just I follow my characters into their worlds. A lot of them happen to have resided in very dark worlds, but that just felt like where I was supposed to be. I’m definitely not against making movies in different genres. I’ve actually got a couple of movies coming out in very different genres, and I think people are going to be like, “That’s the girl we usually see screaming and crying, and she’s not screaming and crying right now.” It will be interesting for people. I just want to continue taking roles that interest me and that make me so excited to get out of bed, every single morning. I’ve learned that, if you really love and trust your filmmaker, you can do some crazy stuff, and that’s exciting. I’m just working with people that inspire me and make me want to keep doing what I’m doing.

The characters you play are also very strong-willed, complex, and resilient. Is that something that you’ve focused on because it was important to you, or do you just feel very lucky that you’ve gotten to do those kinds of roles?

TAYLOR-JOY: Rather than being like, “I want to go out and play somebody resilient and complex,” I just want to play a real person, and real people have multiple layers to them. They’re not 2D. The audience, or at least I, as a member of the audience, always connect to people who are messy because human beings are messy. They’re not cookie cutter. I feel lucky that people have connected to my characters because I think that they’re just real people. Whilst they might be incredibly resilient, like in the case of Casey, she’s also fantastic, wicked smart, and super strong, but if you think about the amount of people that have dealt with what she’s dealt with, I think all of those people are super strong warriors. They might not have dealt with James McAvoy in the Beast form, but they’ve dealt with their own demons. I think it’s nice when you can play somebody that makes somebody else feel less alone.

The Miniaturist airs on September 9th, 16th and 23rd on Masterpiece on PBS.