Although nobody would argue that Zendaya’s character Chani wasn’t extremely important in Denis Villeneuve’s first two Dune movies—especially 2024’s Dune: Part Two, which altered the tone of Frank Herbert’s original sci-fi epics to position the character in moral opposition to her lover Paul Atreides’ violent rise—it sounds like it’s been decided that she’ll be even more important in this December’s Dune: Part Three. That’s per Variety, which reports that the actress (who’s had a frankly ridiculous 2026, appearing in many of the year’s biggest movies) will cap that run by campaigning as a lead actress at the 99th Oscars for her role in the film.
Among other things, the move will see Zendaya become one of the last people to enter what’s already a pretty crowded Best Actress race; Dune: Part Three doesn’t open until December 18, after the general deadline for Oscars submissions, hence the need to figure out her campaign lane ahead of time. But it also suggests—as did at least one of the posters for the movie—that the film is being positioned as as much Chani’s story as Paul’s; the previous two films saw Zendaya campaign (unsuccessfully, given that she hasn’t added any Oscar nominations to her list of accolades just yet) as a Supporting Actress, but it’s apparently been decided that the third movie requires a more elevated push.
Although they’ve never cracked the “main event” categories—including any of the acting ones—Villeneuve’s Dune movies have done pretty well for themselves at the Oscars. Both previous installments won both Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, while the first one also picked up trophies for Editing, Production Design, Cinematography, and for Hans Zimmer’s score.
Zendaya is also expected to be campaigning this year for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, although even just within that movie—where she’s vying against Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and a scene-stealing performance from Samantha Morton—the competition’s going to be pretty stiff.
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