“Dune 2” director Denis Villeneuve says a Zendaya scene was the moment he knew the movie was working: “I took that shot and knew I had a movie.”

Below are spoilers for the ending of Dune: Part Two… you have been warned!

Every single minute of the sci-fi epic Dune: Part Two is a spectacle, but the very final scene is easily one of the highlights. Instead of ending with Timothée Chalamet’s leading man Paul Atreides, we follow Zendaya’s Chani into the desert as she begins a new journey.

Standing alone in the dunes, the camera remains focused on Chani’s face as Zendaya lays bare all of her rebel warrior’s pain and heartbreak. It is absolutely devastating and reminds the audience that Paul’s fulfillment of his prophecy is not a triumph – it is a sign that only danger lies ahead.

It’s a shattering note that ends the song and stays with you for a long time. And as Villeneuve himself tells GamesRadar+ when he caught up over Zoom after Dune: Part Two topped our list of the best films of 2024, it’s also one of his favorite scenes from the film. In fact, it was at that moment that he realized the film was a success: “It’s one of my favorite shots. I took that shot and knew I had a movie.”

But why end with Chani and not the main character of the film? For Villeneuve, this risky move was crucial to fulfilling author Frank Herbert’s original intentions of making Dune a “cautionary tale.”

He explains: “The idea was there right from the start when we started writing this adaptation. Frank Herbert was disappointed with the way some people perceived the first book, thinking it was an homage to Paul Atreides. He wanted to make a cautionary tale, a warning about messianic figures, charismatic figures, people who use religion as a form of power.”

Villeneuve continues, explaining that the key to implementing this idea at Herbert was to create an expanded role for Chani: “We had the idea of transforming Chani. In the book she is in Paul’s shadow, but here we wanted to give Chani her own. Her agenda, her own beliefs, her own story. She has different views about the world than Paul.

“So the film was built around their relationship, and at the beginning of the third act we get more of Chani’s perspective. And from her perspective, we can see where Paul deviates from his path and becomes something he was afraid of. She becomes ours.” So it was very important to finish the film about Chani because that is our point of view, our point of view.”

Dune: Part Two is available to stream now on Max in the US and Sky/Now in the UK. You can find more information about our interview here: Villeneuve on his favorite films of 2024.

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