From Yellowjackets to Companion, Sophie Thatcher gravitates towards projects that challenge her, we meet the actor and artist to talk her new starring role and what's coming next.

Sophie Thatcher doesn’t do things by halves. Whether she’s navigating the wilderness of Yellowjackets, descending into psychological horror as Iris in Companion, or immersing herself in music, she throws herself in entirely and without hesitation. “I think I’m a naturally intense person and I don’t always get to let it out,” she admits. “But I get to let it out in my work, and that’s incredibly gratifying.”

 

That intensity has become something of a signature. At just 24 years old, as an actor and an artist Sophie has already carved out a space for herself in stories that are raw and deeply human. From the chilling cleverness of last year’s Heretic to the grief of The Boogeyman to Nat’s rollercoaster ride of a life in Yellowjackets, Sophie Thatcher delves deep into the realms of her characters to find herself at the centre. 

 

“I just want to continue doing things I don’t feel like I can pull off so I can prove myself wrong”, she confides when we sit down to chat ahead of the world seeing her new starring role in Companion. A formative role for Sophie, becoming Iris led her to better understand herself and what she’s capable of: “I feel like it’s given me more confidence in my range. Not that this character is totally far removed from who I am, but the ability to showcase range is exciting for me. I feel like a lot of the stuff I’ve done is very different, this gets to show a full character arc and a full character transformation and that’s exciting for me as an actor.”

Attracted to roles like that of Companion – a twisting-turning thriller that follows Sophie as Iris, who discovers she’s a robot being controlled by the man she thought was her boyfriend – she has ended up in roles which are both physically and psychologically intense. As she explained, the intensity comes naturally, from music to movies, her taste is “a lot darker”. “I’m naturally drawn to [the darkness],” Sophie muses, “my favourite days on set are when I get to go to more intense places because it feels like I can’t always do that in my normal life. Which isn’t healthy maybe to say that…” We agree, though, that it’s a way of exploring it, of delving into the shadow sides of ourselves we usually kept hidden away. 

 

One of the other most effective ways Sophie taps into this realm is through music. A vital part of her life, she explains, “I was always singing, and I was always writing music…Even before I wrote my first song at 14, I was making up melodies, jotting down lyrics. Music was just always there.” Growing up in a household filled with music – her mum played organ at church, her dad was an avid music lover, and her older brother introduced her to bands like Radiohead – Sophie’s connection to sound became intrinsic. Dropping her debut EP Pivot & Scrape late last year, an ethereal alternative creation with hints of the likes of Beach House and Mazzy Star, it’s clear just how important exploring herself through art of all kinds is. That influence still lingers in her cinematic work too, building playlists for every character she plays, Sophie uses music as a way to access emotion and shape her performance. For Companion, she initially leaned into “synth-heavy ‘80s sounds, a lot of German minimal synth,” before gravitating towards the dreamy, inward-looking nostalgia of Brit band Broadcast. Music, she says, has always been cathartic – a way to “pull me down or get me to a more vulnerable state.”

 

“I’m just trying to tap into this nostalgia and a sense of melancholy” Sophie Thatcher describes, “It’s different with scripts, because you don’t have full control, but I think with each project I’ve resonated with them on a very deep level, and it really clicks on set. After hard days I’m probably the happiest because I got to explore those feelings: I know there’s more at stake but that’s exciting to me.” In fact, during Companion, it was actually the more banal everyday scenes that she struggled with, like sitting and chatting in the passenger seat of a car. “I remember shooting the car scene in the movie and I was like ‘oh my god I don’t know how to do this’. It was so simple… I’m curious [next in my career] to play around with parts that are a lot more simple, and have less, you know, trauma?”

 

Drawn in by the challenge of Companion, Sophie explained that sometimes it can take a while for the true message of a project to sink in, but Iris’ story came to her with ease. “It was clear to me and really resonated because I saw myself as Iris in relationships,” she says. A self-described romantic, Sophie understands the way love can blur identity, making Iris’s transformation throughout the film feel deeply personal and empowering. The complexity of the role drew her in: “There are so many levels to her character, so many emotional shifts. I just remember reading it and being like, ‘Oh god, this is going to be hard. That means I have to do it.’”

Meeting first-time feature writer and director Drew Hancock sealed the deal. Instead of discussing the script, they bonded over movie soundtracks, a sure-fire sign of the collaboration that was to come. “He was so willing to listen, and I’ve never had that to this extent, Sophie explained, “I was able to be a part of the process of creating the character.” For the rising star, Companion was also an opportunity to push herself in new ways, balancing psychological depth with satirical dark humour – something she hadn’t fully explored before. “The script is also really funny, it’s really absurdist, and I haven’t done a lot of that yet. With Yellowjackets Nat obviously has some great sarcastic remarks here and there, but this is like genuinely dark humour. There’s so many new challenging aspects to this script, and that’s what I’m looking for. Something that’s genuinely new.”

 

Companion is definitely that and more: it’s innovative, as playful as it is thoughtful, and Sophie brings even more of a breath of fresh air along with the exciting cast. Jumping headfirst into the discourse around AI and how it will affect our societies, like Sophie herself, the film doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff. The message it leaves behind, we joke, is simple “Don’t be an incel! Don’t fuck with AI!”, Sophie laughs with sincerity. “No, I mean but for real it just goes to show how fucking unattractive and lonely and how fucking lame they are – sorry I keep swearing but I feel very deeply about those type of people. I think it’s put in a darkly humorous light in this movie but it makes you think.” The cast, however, are far from their on-screen counterparts. It’s funny doing interviews with Jack,” Sophie smiles, “His character Josh thinks he’s the hero of the story, which just goes to show how delusional these kinds of people are. Jack, on the other hand, is the total polar opposite of that, by the way, it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

 

Does Sophie feel like Companion will add positively to the discourse? Does art have the power to cause social change or dialogue, is the greater question we discuss. “Absolutely”, Sophie assures us. “If people are talking about the movie afterwards, that is the best thing you can get out of a movie,” she says. In a time when the world – and particularly the United States – feels increasingly polarised, she believes audiences are drawn to darker, more psychological stories because they tap into a collective sense of unease. “There’s a sense of people relating to them in a way that they haven’t before.”

 

That kind of resonance is what she hopes Companion will achieve, especially as it reaches a wider audience as a major Warner Bros. release. “I’m happy that it is becoming a bit more commercial and reach all sorts of people. With Yellowjackets the fans are still niche to an extent and, I’m supposing, are mostly liberal. But with this, I don’t know… I’m curious. I’m curious what kind of people will see it, and if they don’t originally feel the same way or are aware of the culture that we are aware of because we’re younger.”

That curiosity is what fuels her as both an actor and an artist. She wants her work to push conversations forward, to challenge perspectives, even if only in subtle ways. “I think if a film can start an original thought or give you a new perspective – or even reaffirm something you’ve already been feeling – then we’ve done our job.” It seems that’s why she’s drawn to projects with psychological depth, ones that linger in the mind long after the credits roll. For Sophie, the best kind of storytelling isn’t about easy answers, it’s about leaving the audience with something to unpack, something to return to.

 

A part of a new generation of actors who aren’t just performers but true artists, deeply engaged in the stories they tell and the impact they leave behind, Sophie’s future looks blindingly bright. Whether she’s embodying complex, emotionally raw characters on screen or crafting introspective, dreamlike music in her own time, her work is united by an authenticity that feels rare. She gravitates towards roles that challenge her, stories that linger, and collaborators who invite her into the creative process. 

 

With a career that already spans cult TV, psychological horror, and now a major studio release, Sophie Thatcher is proving that she’s not just one to watch, she’s paving the way for a cultural renaissance through meaningful work. Full of hope that her work doesn’t just entertain, it makes people think, whether she’s acting or making music of her own, the through-line is clear: storytelling that feels raw, immersive, and deeply personal.

 

Companion is in cinemas this Friday, 31st January, click here to book your tickets now.