Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy at Sacrifice’s 2025 TIFF premiere. Photo: Sara Komatsu / WikiPortraits, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped for display. License and original: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=176352035.
Chris Evans plays an action star whose comeback goes wrong in Sacrifice. His character, Mike Tyler, attends a charity gala only to become a hostage of Joan, a cult leader played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
Director Romain Gavras chose Evans partly for his comic timing and his understanding of an actor’s ego. Taylor-Joy needed a different combination: Joan had to project strength while still showing vulnerability. Gavras said he had followed her work since The Witch.
Joan’s followers believe they must sacrifice three people to a volcano to prevent a disaster.
John Malkovich plays Gunnar. Charli xcx also appears, but Gavras describes her part as a small cameo, not a leading role.
Sacrifice premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025. Netflix will release it on October 16, 2026, in the United States and France. Other countries are not included in that streaming announcement.
