CULTURE

Zendaya Is Playing Timothée Chalamet’s Love Interest in Dune

She just signed onto Dune.

Jan. 30, 2019

Stefanie Keenan/Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

The casting news for Dune keeps getting better. The latest addition? Zendaya will be suiting up as Chani, the love interest of Paul, played by Timothée Chalamet. The actress is reportedly in final negotiations to play the part, per Collider.

The sci-fi film, which is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel of the same name, is centered around a clash between Chalamet’s character Paul Atreides’ family and competing noble families, who are fighting over the planet Arrakis. So far, it’s attracted an impressive list of talent.

Outside of Zendaya and Chalamet, Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson will be playing Chalamet’s parents. One the other side of the fence, Stellan Skarsgård, Baron Harkonnen, and Dave Bautista will be playing their adversaries. And Charlotte Rampling will referee between the two parties as Reverend Mother Mohiam.

Dune follows David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of the novel. This time, Denis Villeneuve will be handling the script with Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and Jon Spaihts (Prometheus), as Collider notes.

Zendaya has a full plate at the moment, between Dune and her upcoming HBO show Euphoria, which also boasts an impressive pedigree. In the series, Zendaya stars alongside The Kissing Booth‘s Jacob Elordi and Maude Apatow, which follows a group of high school students’ exploits and is being produced by Drake.

Meanwhile, Chalamet has a handful of films coming up, from A Rainy Day in New York to Little Women and The King. Plus, he is currently filming The French Dispatch, which is Wes Anderson’s next project with Saoirse Ronan and Willem Dafoe. Chalamet is also going to be returning as Elio in the sequel to Call Me By Your Name, which is in the early stages. Director Luca Guadagnino spoke about the idea, which could pick back up in various stages of Elio and Oliver’s lives. “I want to do a sequel because Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel—they are all gems,” he said back in October 2017. “The texture we built together is very consistent. We created a place in which you believe in the world before them.” Soon, Chalamet and Zendaya will have the chance to do that in a totally different kind of film.