Variety reports that Zendaya is entering the Oscar race for her role of Chani in Dune: Part Three. But unlike the campaigns for the previous two films, she will be positioned in the lead actress category this time around. That suggests that Chani might have a bigger role to play than expected.
Zendaya Has Had One Hell of a Year
It’s been a big year for Zendaya. She kicked off 2026 with The Drama, a dark comedy in which she starred alongside Robert Pattinson as a happily engaged couple whose relationship is tested by an unexpected revelation the week before their wedding. She’s being submitted for lead in this film as well.
She also played Athena in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the billion-dollar mythological blockbuster, and reprised her role as MJ in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, another enormous blockbuster which now stands as one of the highest-grossing films of all time, behind only Avengers: Endgame and Avatar.
Zendaya has picked up a handful of awards in the last few years, including two Emmys and a Golden Globe for Euphoria. If she does land an Oscar nomination this year, it would be her first.
Dune: Part Three Will Be Very Different
Dune: Part Three is set nearly two decades after Paul Atreides seized control of the Imperium. Now a ruthless Emperor, Paul must face the consequences of his reign as old allies return, terrifying new threats emerge, and betrayal lurks in every shadow. Haunted by visions of Imperial collapse and the reappearance of his long-lost love, Paul is drawn into a sweeping conspiracy, with Chani at the heart of its unfolding mystery. As rebellion brews and enemies close in, Paul must confront the true cost of power and the fate of those he loves the most.
Director Denis Villeneuve has said that the finale will be a different sort of story. “The idea was to try to make a movie that will have the same DNA — it’s a Dune movie — but it’s a very different movie. It has a different pacing,” he said. “We are back with the same characters, but this time the world has totally changed. Their psyches, their perspective on reality has totally changed, and Paul is living with the burden of what he created, trying to find a way out of this spiral of violence.“
Dune: Part Three will hit theaters on December 18.
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