Zendaya had more than once talked about how she was concerned for Tom Holland whenever he would be stuck in his intricate Spider-Man suit, and there’s always the problem of how difficult it is to get in and out of the costumes.
Come Dune though, Zendaya found herself wearing an intricate suit as well (i.e., the Fremen stillsuits), and because she didn’t want to have an accident in her costume, she unwittingly gave herself a heatstroke. Talking to Variety, Zendaya explains:
“We were in Jordan. It was very hot, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, man, the bathrooms are so far away,’ because we had to hike to the locations… If you have to pee, you need at least 10 minutes to get out of the costumes. I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t want to drink too much water.’ I had such a fear of peeing myself or shitting myself, honestly, in the suit on set. One day, I didn’t drink enough and I had a heatstroke. I felt so barfy. I remember calling my mom on the bathroom floor, saying, ‘I feel terrible.’ She was like, ‘Did you drink water today?’ I said no. I thought I was being smart, but you can’t do that. So, lesson learned.”
Though Zendaya did have a problem with staying hydrated, she does admit that her body was in the best shape possible for Dune because she was working on Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers where she plays a pro tennis player. Zendaya explains, “What was so great is I had been training with the boys on ‘Challengers’ every day and was in the best shape that I had been in a really long time… For ‘Dune,’ the costumes were very heavy and restrictive. The first few weeks, your body’s quite sore. When I was walking through the sand every day, my butt looked great. So that worked out! I was prepared.”
Zendaya is expected to return for the third Dune movie to reprise the role of Chani, but it’s unclear where her character is going to go. Originally in the books, Chani was pretty much going along with Paul’s plan to dominate the Imperium, but by the end of Part Two, Chani and Paul part ways because Chani knows that Paul’s rise was just another way to enslave the Fremen and obtain spice from Arrakis.
Dune: Messiah is expected to come out Dec. 16, 2026.
