For the first time in nearly 20 years, the latest of the Resident Evil movies is not led by Milla Jovovich, but instead by Kaya Scodelario this time, and pleasantly so. The 29-year-old British actress has quickly become one of the most exciting and talented leading ladies of her generation to keep an eye out for.
She stole the show in the Maze Runner movies and the most recent of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and became a scream queen with Crawl in 2020. If Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was your first introduction to Scodelario and it made you want to explore her career, allow us to point you in the right direction - starting at the very beginning.
Skins (Hulu)
Demanding parents, abusive teachers, and untrustworthy friends do not make life any easier for a group of disillusioned, British teens who turn to their vices in desperate search of an escape.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: Kaya Scodelario first exploded onto the scene in 2007 with her debut acting role as the reckless Effy Stonem on Skins - the influential, provocative, UK teen drama that still remains far more popular than its remake in the U.S., which aired for one season on MTV in 2011.
Stream Skins on Hulu (opens in new tab).
Buy Skins on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Moon (Pluto TV)
An astronaut (Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell) nearing the end of his three-year stint harvesting a valuable resource for Earth from the lunar surface is horrified to learn that he is not quite alone out there.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: I will not give away exactly how Kaya Scodelario is involved in the plot of 2009’s Moon - her first movie and the debut feature of director Duncan Jones - but when she does appear, prepare for the most gut-wrenching scene of one of the best space movies of the century so far, if you ask me.
Stream Moon on Pluto TV.
Rent/Buy Moon on Amazon (opens in new tab).
The Maze Runner Movies (Amazon Rental)
After waking up in a deadly labyrinth guarded by killer robots and with no memory of his past, a young man (Dylan O’Brien) leads his fellow adolescent, amnesiac prisoners on an escape into the outside world, which proves be no less dangerous and in much need of revolution.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: The first film based on James Dashner’s best-selling trilogy, 2014’s The Maze Runner, seemed to have an all-male cast, until Kaya Scodelario showed up as Teresa. And, in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials from 2015 and 2018’s Maze Runner: The Death Cure, she undergoes one of the most transformative character arcs in one of the more thrilling YA novel movie franchises from when that trend was in its prime.
Rent/Buy The Maze Runner on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Rent/Buy Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Rent/Buy Maze Runner: The Death Cure on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Stream Maze Runner: The Death Cure on Hulu (opens in new tab).
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Disney+)
Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), the son of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (Brenton Thwaites), and a thrill seeking astronomer (Kaya Scodelario) team up in search of a mythical artifact said to be the cure for all of the world’s curses, with each member of this crew having a different reason for wanting to find it.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: I will not give away exactly how Kaya Scodelario, once again, plays out one of the most transformative character arcs (this time in 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), but can guarantee that you will never be unamused when her character of the clever and witty Carina Smyth is on screen and, perhaps, even more so than the returning characters.
Stream Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on Disney+ (opens in new tab).
Rent/Buy Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Clash Of The Titans (HBO Max)
A demigod warrior named Perseus (Sam Worthington), who is also the son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), fights to protect the earth against Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and his monstrous minions from the Underworld.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: In yet another blockbuster fantasy epic, Kaya Scodelario actually had a bit of a reunion with her former Skins co-star, Nicolas Hoult, when she played Peshet, the personal maid and hopeful protector of Andromeda in Clash of the Titans - director Louis Leterrier’s action-packed, 2010 remake of the 1981 cult classic.
Stream Clash Of The Titans on HBO Max (opens in new tab).
Rent/Buy Clash Of The Titans on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Crawl (Hulu)
A young woman (Kaya Scodelario) engages in the fight of her life as she struggles to rescue her father (Barry Pepper) while trying to avoid falling prey to hungry alligators during a category-five hurricane in Florida.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: Scodelario also had a bit of reunion, this time with her former Maze Runner movies co-star, Barry Pepper, when she played his daughter in Crawl - a thrill-a-minute popcorn movie produced by The Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi and directed French horror auteur Alexandre Aja.
Stream Crawl on Hulu (opens in new tab).
Rent/Buy Crawl on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Tiger House (Tubi)
A young woman (Kaya Scodelario) visits her boyfriend’s house, only to find that it has been overtaken by four armed criminals looking to make a score, and she becomes the one obstacle in their path.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: In one of Kaya Scodelario’s more grounded and best horror movies, the actress absolutely gives it her all when facing off with fellow British acting heavies like Mission: Impossible 2’s Dougray Scott and Deadpool’s Ed Skrein in Tiger House - a thrilling and twisted home invasion thriller from first-time feature director and future Operation Finale producer Thomas Daley.
Stream Tiger House on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Tiger House on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile (Netflix)
Young mother Elizabeth Kendall (Lily Collins) struggles to come to terms with the discovery that her charming longtime boyfriend, Ted Bundy (a never-better Zac Efron), may be guilty of the rape and murder of multiple women.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: In a whole different kind of horror movie, Kaya Scodelario practically disappears into the role of Carole Ann Boone, who became Ted Bundy’s wife and mother to his only child during the time of his trial, in Netflix’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile - a unique and startlingly effective account of just how manipulative one of America’s most infamous serial killers could be.
Stream Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile on Netflix (opens in new tab).
Wuthering Heights (Crackle, Pluto TV)
After a poor, young, mysterious boy is accepted into a family of wealthy socialites, he begins to develop an interest in his foster sister (Kaya Scodelario) that, overtime, grows into a case of intense, passionate love.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: In one of her first lead roles in a feature film, Kaya Scodelario reinvents the iconic role of Cathy in Wuthering Heights - director and co-writer Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of the timeless, tragic tale of forbidden romance from Emily Bronte.
Stream Wuthering Heights on Crackle.
Stream Wuthering Heights on Pluto TV.
Rent/Buy Wuthering Heights on Amazon (opens in new tab).
Spinning Out (Netflix)
An ambitious, young, Olympic figure skater (Kaya Scodelario) tries to go for the gold despite a troubling romance with her partner (Evan Roderick), a worsening conflict with her former skater mother (former Mad Men cast member and Emmy nominee January Jones), a traumatizing head injury from a previous competition, and a private battle with her own mental health.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: Kaya Scodelario makes a stunning return to television by giving a tour de force performance in 2020’s Spinning Out - a sports series from creator Samantha Stratton that feels somewhat like The Queen’s Gambit for fans of Olympic figure skating, which makes Netflix’s cancellation after one season, in January 2020, all the more disappointing.
Stream Spinning Out on Netflix (opens in new tab).
The Pale Horse (Amazon Prime)
In order to clear his name, a man accused of murder (Old cast member Rufus Sewell) attempts to investigate the ordeal himself and, in the process, finds a link to a series of mysterious deaths that he begins to suspect could actually be the work of witches.
Why it’s worth checking out if you like Kaya Scodelario: Also in 2020, Kaya Scodelario starred as the stubborn, pretentious lover of Rufus Sewell’s troubled hero in The Pale Horse - a two-part, Amazon Prime Video original miniseries and the latest of several projects based on the work of Agatha Christie adapted by writer Sarah Phelps.
Stream The Pale Horse on Amazon Prime (opens in new tab).
As you binge these films and TV shows, you may begin to sense the fact that Kaya Scodelario is generally one of - if not the - top reason to watch each of them. I suppose we will see if that is still the case when she appears in the fantasy The King’s Daughter (which is set to premiere in 2022) and the drama Don’t Make Me Go.
