Craig Melvin trended on X after asking “what’s the connection” between the 11-time Grammy winner and the Nintendo character.

Anya Taylor-Joy artfully answers bizarre question comparing Joni Mitchell and Super Mario’s Princess Peach

Craig Melvin trended on X after asking “what’s the connection” between the 11-time Grammy winner and the Nintendo character.

By Kathleen Perricone

March 18, 2026 7:38 p.m. ET

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'Today' host Craig Melvin interviews Anna Taylor-Joy on March 18. Credit:

One is among the most influential songwriters of all time, the other inspired a viral ear worm described as “Neil Diamond-lite.”

Anya Taylor-Joy stopped by *Today* on Wednesday to talk about *The Super Mario Galaxy Movie* and reprising her role as Princess Peach in the animated sequel also starring Chris Pratt (Mario), Charlie Day (Luigi), and Jack Black as Bowser, the King of the Koopas who famously professed his love for her in the 2023 film with the rock ballad “Peaches.”

After a brief discussion about the “through line” of several of her notable characters being “trapped,” like Princess Peach (literally) and chess prodigy Beth Harmon in *The Queen’s Gambit* (figuratively), host Craig Melvin threw the actress a curve ball.

“You’re rumored to be playing Joni Mitchell, speaking of through lines,” he began. “One of the, arguably, most singularly important women in music over the last generation or so. Princess Peach, one of the most iconic women in gaming history. What’s the connection there?”

Taylor-Joy takes a beat, staring at the NBC studio’s ceiling as she repeats the curious question. “What’s the connection between Joni and Princess Peach?”

“Yeah,” confirmed Melvin.

“How they’re both singular; you can’t touch them,” replied Taylor-Joy, artfully. “They’re in a league of their own.”

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The brief exchange lit up X, with nearly 2 million views in the first several hours, after one user clipped it with the caption: “I will never cut the cord. Television forever.”

“In defense, this is a question that has never been asked to anyone before,” retorted one commenter.

While Taylor-Joy declined to go into any more detail about reports she’ll portray a young Mitchell in Cameron Crowe’s upcoming biopic (opposite Meryl Streep as the present-day singer), she did acknowledge her *Dune: Part Three* character, Alia Atreides, is “one of a kind” much like Mitchell and Princess Peach.

Anna Taylor-Joy in 2025, and Joni Mitchell back in 1972.

Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage; Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

“A lot of people find her really creepy, except for her brother,” she explained, talking about Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet). “She has absolute prescience. She lives with the voice of generations of people in her head. She’s never in a singular conversation, and that can drive somebody a little bit crazy.”

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*Dune: Part Three*, the final film in the epic trilogy, arrives in theaters Dec. 18. But before then, Taylor-Joy can be seen in *The Super Mario Galaxy Movie*, out on April 1.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Movies”