If there's one thing that people are expecting in Dune: Part Two, it would be the love story between Paul Atreides and Chani, the woman of his dreams. Granted, Zendaya says that finding the connection between the young duke and the Fremen woman isn't as easy as it sounds despite their seemingly supernatural bond.
Zendaya only appeared briefly in Dune: Part One and most of her scenes were in Paul Atreides' dreams of Arrakis. But in the second film, he finally has the chance to see Chani in the flesh, things don't turn out to be as magical as expected.
“It was funny trying to figure out in this futuristic space talk, like, how do they flirt?” Zendaya tells Vanity Fair. “What does that look like for a space warrior and the young duke of a planet? How do they show that they like each other? What does that even sound like?”
“We were definitely trying to navigate that, which was funny because all of us were stumped. I think it’s just as foreign to us as it probably is to the characters,” she continued.
Luckily, Zendaya and co-star Timothée Chalamet figured out that clumsiness is the best way to handle it.
“Awkward and uncomfortable—there’s all those things,” Zendaya said. Still, she considered the possibility that Chani would handle things differently considering she is actually a desert-hardened warrior instead of a blushing maiden.
“I was like, Does Chani get awkward? Does that happen to her? Does she know what that feels like?” Zendaya wondered.
Either way, we're eager to see more of Zendaya and Chalamet together in Dune: Part Two.
The sequel will also bring back Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem. They will be joined by Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, and Tim Blake Nelson.
Dune: Part Two is currently scheduled for theatrical release on November 3, 2023.
Related: Dune: Denis Villeneuve Hypes Up Austin Butler's Dangerous Feyd-Rautha
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