How Zendaya Feels About Her New ‘Dune: Part Two’ Co-Stars

Zendaya was just as star-struck by her Dune: Part Two co-stars as anyone else. In a promotional interview with Warner Bros. ahead of the big premiere, Zendaya praised Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Christopher Walken for their contributions to the new film. She said that she loved watching them work, but did not get to socialize with them as much as she had hoped.

“Florence was so lovely and kind, and again, I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wish we had, but she had such a regal, natural sense of just, like… being Princess Irulan!” Zendaya said in the clip. “She was meant to be Princess Irulan, you know? And then Austin, who was a lovely kind person, but has somehow transformed into this, like, evil, terrifying… Beast!” Finally, Zendaya said that she was personally the most starstruck by Walken, who changed the entire vibe on set.

“I only got a few days to watch Christopher Walken, which was crazy,” she said. “I was so nervous, I barely even talked to him, you know. I was just like, ‘Hi, sir.’ But his presence – just walking into a room – it’s like, ‘woo.’ So he feels like an emperor, for sure. Yeah, so I think it goes without saying, this cast is really, really really special, and the new players are bringing so much to this film. I’m excited to see it all put together.”

Pugh, Butler and Walken joined the already star-studded cast from Dune: Part One, which included Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as the Fremen Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Javier Bardem as Stilgar and Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck. Some of the A-listers in the previous installment did not return here, including Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa. Meanwhile, the promotional material did not mention another prominent cast member who was kept secret until the movie’s world premiere – you can read about that here if you’re not sensitive about spoilers.

Dune: Part Two completes filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, a novel published in 1965 that is considered to be one of the foundational works of the sci-fi genre. The book was previously called “impossible to adapt,” but splitting the story into two movies definitely helped with that challenge. Herbert wrote six novels in The Dune Saga and his son, Brian, went on to co-write many more with author Kevin J. Anderson. Villeneuve and the cast have expressed interest in adapting the second book, Dune Messiah, making their films into a trilogy, but so far that project hasn’t been officially greenlit.

Dune: Part Two is playing now in theaters around the U.S. Part One is streaming now on Max. The Dune Saga novels are all available in print, digital and audiobook formats.