Timothée Chalamet Calls 'Dune' Costar Zendaya His 'Sister,' Says She Has Expanded Role in Sequel

Zendaya fans who were left wanting more from her screen time in Dune will get their wish with the forthcoming sequel.

Speaking with Variety, the actress's costar Timothée Chalamet said Zendaya's role in Dune: Part Two, due out next year, will be larger than in the first film.

"She hasn't wrapped yet, and it's amazing," says Chalamet, 26. "She's bringing exactly what she brought to the first one — which was incredible — but in greater abundance."

The Bones and All actor went on to say Zendaya, 26, "has really become a sister" to him.

"I'm so grateful to count her as a partner and a sister and a friend," he said, adding that it's "amazing" for the two to share stories about working with Luca Guadagino, who directed Chalamet in the upcoming Bones and All and Call Me by Your Name (2017), and Zendaya in Challengers, out next year.

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In Dune, Zendaya, plays Chani, who bookends the film as a narrator and appears in snippets throughout in dreams of the protagonist Paul, played by Chalamet. The two characters finally meet at the end of the movie, when she tells Paul, "This is only the beginning."

Director Denis Villeneuve explained to the Los Angeles Times in October 2021 that the first movie covers about half of the novel it's based on, with more story to tell and more Zendaya to come as her character soon takes the forefront.

"There are some characters that are less developed that I'm keeping for the second film — that's the way I found the equilibrium," he said. "We tried in this movie to stay as close as possible to Paul's experience. Then, in the second one, I will have time to develop some characters that were left aside a little bit. That's the theory. I hope it will work."

Legendary, the production company behind the film, confirmed around the same time that a second Dune installment is in the works. It is slated for release on Nov. 3, 2023.

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Of working with Chalamet on Dune, Zendaya previously told PEOPLE, "I'm just so grateful that this experience has been with this guy because he's massively talented but also such a good person. We've been able to have fun and become great friends."

"She was like a breath of fresh air," Chalamet added of his Emmy Award-winning costar. "She had a great energy."

In his recent interview with Variety, the actor also heaped praises onto Florence Pugh, who joins the Dune cast for the upcoming sequel.

"Florence is really special," he said. "She's an incredible actor. She was incredible in Dune — seriously incredible. She brought a gravitas to the role."

Chalamet also shouted out their work together on 2019's Little Women, saying, "We were joking on set that we keep doing these movies, and [our characters] end up together even though we should be ending up with different people."