Netflix released the trailer for limited series “The Queen’s Gambit” on Thursday, showing the struggle Anya Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon faces as she tries to conquer the male-dominated world of competitive chess in the 1950s.
And it’s during that journey that she learns “genius and madness go hand-in-hand” in this game — or at least the version she’s being forced to play.
In the trailer, which you can view above, you’ll see a young Beth, an orphan in Kentucky, become addicted to tranquilizers given to the children in her orphanage by the state, as she rises through the ranks of the chess world. While Beth becomes more and more famous for her skills, her mental state begins to deteriorate.
Here’s the official description for “The Queen’s Gambit,” which launches Oct. 23 on Netflix:
Based on the novel by Walter Tevis, the Netflix limited series drama “The Queen’s Gambit” is a coming-of-age story that explores the true cost of genius. Abandoned and entrusted to a Kentucky orphanage in the late 1950s, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) discovers an astonishing talent for chess while developing an addiction to tranquilizers provided by the state as a sedative for the children. Haunted by her personal demons and fueled by a cocktail of narcotics and obsession, Beth transforms into an impressively skilled and glamorous outcast while determined to conquer the traditional boundaries established in the male-dominated world of competitive chess.
Along with Taylor-Joy, “The Queen’s Gambit” stars Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling and Bill Camp.
The limited series was written and directed by Academy Award nominee Scott Frank, who co-created the show with Allan Scott. Frank, Scott and William Horberg are executive producers.