Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Anya Taylor-Joy says she learned her Queen's Gambit chess moves "five minutes" before filming each scene with a game.
The 24-year-old actress discussed her experience filming the Netflix series during Thursday's episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Taylor-Joy plays troubled chess prodigy Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit, which premiered in October. Taylor-Joy said she did her best to learn chess for the show.
"I had this wonderful idea that I was gonna get fantastic at chess and it was going to be my superpower forever, but the reality was I was working back-to-back and I just had to kind of give myself to it and learn as much as I could," the star said.
"The actual sequences were learned five minutes before, because there was no way that I was going to be able to play 350 games from memory," she added. "So, yeah, just five minutes before."
In addition, Taylor-Joy said she learned about the theory behind chess.
"I had to understand chess for myself, because I felt that people care about it so much that I couldn't just sort of show up and not understand the theory of it. But the theory and then applying that theory are two very different things," she said.
Taylor-Joy said she has played chess since wrapping the show.
"I have a huge chessboard here with me -- I'm working in Northern Ireland. But the chessboard is huge, and that means if I have to go home, that means I'm getting on a plane, and that's the chess girl, with the chess set, in the chess show. It's a bit much, so I'm trying to get it home with me," she said with a smile.
Taylor-Joy thanked fans for supporting The Queen's Gambit in an Instagram post Thursday morning.
"I cannot begin to express how deeply moved I am by the reaction to The Queen's Gambit," the actress wrote.
"THANK YOU for the love you have shown Beth. We went on such an unbelievable journey together and I'm glad you folks buckled in for the ride," she said. "Sending love and healing to everyone out there, stay safe."
Taylor-Joy is also known for the films The Witch, Split and Emma. She will star in the upcoming movies Last Night in Soho and The Northman.