All relationships face challenges, but there’s definitely a particular anguish tied into the couple at the heart of the Dune series. After falling in love across Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune: Part Two, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) parted ways on decidedly bad terms at the end, not least of which was his decision to marry someone else as part of his messianic power grab: Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh).
Even without the future of the galaxy at stake, that would be difficult for any jilted party to overcome. And Chani’s going to be feeling it in Dune: Part Three, as Villeneuve and Zendaya explained in a new interview with Empire.
“I think there is a deep pain, a deep mistrust, a deep betrayal,” Zendaya said, describing Chani’s emotions in Part Three.
“In the previous film, she opened herself up to the idea of letting someone in, allowing a space for love or gentleness,” she added. “Well, we see how that goes. That part of her life is not as present anymore.”
Villeneuve put it into even more relatable terms. Though he now shares his life with Dune producer Tanya Lapointe, he hinted to Empire about having known heartbreak in the past and leaning into that here.
“It’s a movie that is talking about something that is very human, which is the idea of a separation, the idea of a divorce,” he said. “With me, it happened. The idea about the broken family is something that the book gave me the opportunity to explore.”
Dune: Part Three opens December 18.
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