Zendaya is going for the top prize. The 30-year-old actress will campaign for the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Chani in Dune: Part Three, the final film in Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction trilogy.
Variety first reported the move on October 23, 2026, and it marks a big step up. In the first two Dune films, Zendaya was positioned in the supporting actress category. This time, Warner Bros. will put her forward as a lead. The decision reflects how much bigger Chani’s role has become, and if it works, it would bring Zendaya her first ever Oscar nomination.
From supporting to lead
In Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), Zendaya’s Chani was a key presence but not the centre of the story. Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet, carried both films, and Zendaya campaigned in supporting.
That changes with Part Three. Multiple sources told Variety that the studio will seek lead actress consideration for her this time, and the move tells its own story: Chani is no longer standing beside Paul’s journey. She is driving a large part of it.
Warner Bros. and Zendaya’s representatives declined to comment on the report, but the campaign plan is now widely reported across the industry press. You can read Parade’s report for the full background on the category switch.
Why Chani’s role is bigger this time
Dune: Part Three is set almost two decades after Paul seized control of the Imperium at the end of Part Two. It adapts Frank Herbert’s novel Dune Messiah, but Villeneuve has made a major change to the story.
In the book, Chani stays by Paul’s side. In the films, she has walked away. Early footage shows her having rejected Paul and everything he stands for, choosing to live as a free Fremen. Villeneuve has described the film as a story about separation, calling it a divorce movie in an interview with Empire magazine.
That puts Chani at the heart of the conspiracy unfolding against Paul, who is now a ruthless emperor haunted by visions of his empire falling apart and by the return of his long-lost love. She is not a supporting player in that story. She is the other half of it.
The film’s cast includes Timothée Chalamet, Jason Momoa, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson as the villain Scytale, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Charlotte Rampling and Isaach de Bankolé.
What it would mean for Zendaya
An Oscar nomination for Dune: Part Three would be a first for Zendaya, and a first for the franchise’s actors. The first two Dune films earned 15 Oscar nominations between them and won eight awards, all in technical categories such as visual effects, sound and score. No actor from either film has been nominated.
Zendaya already has two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for Euphoria, but the Oscars have so far stayed out of reach. A Best Actress nomination would change that, and it would cap a year in which she has been everywhere.
The timing also matters for awards season. The race is already taking shape across film and television, with recent winners such as Noah Wyle, who took the Emmy for The Pitt in September, setting the tone for a busy season ahead.
A huge year for Zendaya
The Dune campaign is only part of Zendaya’s 2026. She started the year in the lead role of The Drama, a dark comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli, opposite Robert Pattinson. She plays Emma Harwood, a literary editor hiding a shocking secret, and that performance will also be submitted in the lead actress category.
She then played Athena in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the billion-dollar mythological epic, where she will campaign in supporting actress alongside co-stars Anne Hathaway, Samantha Morton and Charlize Theron.
Running two campaigns at once is unusual, and it shows how much the studios value her this season. One film asks voters to see her as a lead. The other asks them to see her as a scene-stealer in support.
The film is already breaking records
Dune: Part Three does not open until December 18, 2026, in theatres and IMAX, with previews from December 15. But it is already breaking records.
When general pre-sales opened worldwide on October 20, demand was so high that London’s BFI IMAX, the largest screen in the UK, sold 33,000 advance tickets in 24 hours, taking more than £880,000. That set a new first-day pre-sale record for the venue, beating Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which had held the record at £750,000. Dune: Part Two managed £366,000 at the same venue in 2024.
The film will be shown in IMAX 70mm at only a small number of cinemas, and Warner Bros. has secured the IMAX screens exclusively for three weeks, so demand is expected to stay high through the holidays.
The race ahead
None of this guarantees a nomination. The Best Actress field is already crowded, and awards forecasters at Gold Derby do not currently list Zendaya among the frontrunners in either actress category. A December release for a science-fiction epic is also a hard path, since genre films often struggle to win acting recognition.
But the campaign itself is the story. Warner Bros. is betting that Chani’s expanded role is strong enough to compete at the top of the ballot, and that audiences will see a different Zendaya when the film opens in December. Nominations for the 99th Academy Awards will be announced ahead of the ceremony on March 14, 2027.
For now, the message from the studio is clear: this time, Chani is the lead.
Frequently asked questions
Is Zendaya nominated for an Oscar for Dune: Part Three?
No, not yet. She will campaign for Best Actress consideration, which is a category choice made by the studio, not a nomination. Nominations are decided by the Academy ahead of the ceremony on March 14, 2027.
Why is Zendaya campaigning as lead actress this time?
In the first two Dune films she was positioned in supporting. For Part Three, her character Chani has a much bigger role, set almost two decades after Paul took power, with Chani at the centre of the story. The studio believes that justifies a lead campaign.
When does Dune: Part Three come out?
The film opens in theatres and IMAX on December 18, 2026, with previews starting December 15. It is the final film in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy.
Has Zendaya ever been nominated for an Oscar?
No. She has won two Emmys and a Golden Globe for Euphoria, but an Oscar nomination for Dune: Part Three would be her first.
