Sorry, Zendaya Fans — Don’t Expect to See Too Much Chani in ‘Dune’ Part 1

Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune is finally here, and the director has assembled a truly star-studded cast for his space epic. Timothée Chalamet as broody, reluctant hero Paul Atreides is obviously the main attraction, but another young superstar has also been splashed all over the film’s marketing: Zendaya, who plays a warrior named Chani. Don’t get me wrong, Vileneuve’s Dune is a stunning adaptation that infuses writer Frank Herbert’s dense tale of palace intrigue, hallucinogenic spice, and giant worms with Lawrence of Arabia-level grandeur. At nearly three hours, it’s also long as hell, but if you’re a Zendaya fan expecting her to play a major role in Dune Part One, I have bad news for you. The actress appears in maybe ten minutes of the entire film. That said, if a sequel is greenlit, her role is about to get much larger.

For the uninitiated: Dune takes place far into the future, where space travel is made possible by a super valuable commodity known as spice (aka melange). Spice only exists on Arrakis, a perilous desert planet being rapidly drained of its resources by a series of noble houses.  Chani is one of the Fremen, Arrakis’ elusive, indigenous people. They’ve been oppressed for years as a result, in no small part thanks to the planet’s previous stewards, the brutal Harkonnens.

As Dune begins, Paul’s family (the increasingly popular House Atreides) are ordered to take control of Arrakis and the spice trade. Before they even get to the planet, Paul becomes haunted by prophetic dreams of a mysterious woman on Arrakis (you guessed it: Chani). Long story short, things predictably go sideways, and Paul eventually crosses paths with Chani as his visions of their future together get more and more detailed.

There’s no denying Chani is a key figure in the Dune universe, and if Villeneuve gets to complete the story with a Part Two, she’ll be all over your screens. In the second half of Dune, Paul learns the ways of the Fremen and seeks revenge against the corrupt Harkonnens while grappling with the enormous burden of his birthright. In the meantime, he gets a whole lot closer with the literal woman of his dreams, whose warrior ways are crucial to the Fremen and Atreides’ intergalactic revolution.

In a recent interview with Vogue, Villeneuve called Zendaya one of the “most professional artists I’ve ever worked with. “I am honored to present two such explosive talents on screen [Chalamet and Zendaya] and I can’t wait to shoot the second part of Dune to get them back together, knowing that in the next chapter Zendaya will be the [female] protagonist of the story,” he added to La Repubblica.

There you have it! While the first Dune film may not totally deliver on the Zendaya front, hopefully Part One will be enough of a hit that fans can see her kick ass and smooch Chalamet on a big sandworm somewhere down the line.

Where to watch Dune