Zendaya has constructed a filmography for herself that is diverse and truly shows off her talent and range. This year alone, she’s proving that with the 2026 movie schedule, as she’s released The Drama and is preparing to premiere The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Dune: Part Three. So, that begs the question: How does this beloved actress pick her roles? Well, she provided a very insightful answer.
Now looking at Zendaya’s list of upcoming projects and considering the fact that Season 3 of Euphoria is airing on the 2026 TV schedule, it’s very clear to me just how different each and every project is. I mean, in July alone, she’ll go from Christopher Nolan’s take on The Odyssey over to an upcoming Marvel movie. So, I have wondered how she picks and chooses her parts, and she explained what she considers during an interview with Vogue Brazil:
I like complex and interesting characters that challenge me and unfold. When I'm choosing roles, I get a lot of inspiration from the script. For me, it's not easy to maintain attention for very long; I get distracted very easily when I'm reading. When you read a script that really captures your imagination and attention, when you really enter the world that's being built and want to know what happens to these characters, that's when I know I'm kind of on the right track.
OK, let’s break this down. Her comment about “complex and interesting characters” really struck me, because it’s so clear that her projects are picked around that mindset. I mean, to this day, I still think about her morally grey character in Challengers (which you can stream with a Hulu subscription), and if you’ve seen The Drama, you know that her character’s history is the reason why that movie is so complex and thought-provoking. Of course, I’d say all her characters fall into that category too; however, those were the two examples that really stuck out.
Now, moving on to her other point about finding a script that really captures her attention, that makes perfect sense, too. You want a project that keeps you engaged for its entire runtime, and I’d say movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming and Dune do just that. Further explaining why she wants projects like that, she said:
It's important that the work is exciting, but also a little scary—like, a little healthy fear about whether or not I'll be able to embody the character is always good. It's a challenge for me to complete.
From the massive blockbusters to her smaller projects, that level of excitement certainly carries through. And I’m 100% feeling it in relation to her upcoming movies too, because The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Dune: Part Three are all huge, epic blockbusters that seem like they’ll be incredibly engaging and exciting to watch.
Adding one more element she considers to this list about how she picks projects, Zendaya said:
And, of course, filmmakers. Working with specific directors motivates me.
Listen, if you take one look at Zendaya’s filmography, you’ll see the laundry list of impressive filmmakers she’s collaborated with. It includes Luca Guadagnino, Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan, to name a few. And it’s easy to see why specific directors motivate her, I mean, the three aforementioned filmmakers alone and the masterpieces they’ve brought to the screen in years past make that clear.
So, that’s how Zendaya goes about picking her roles, and it seems like a very solid thought process to me.
Now, to see how all those choices work out, you can stream Season 3 of Euphoria right now with an HBO Max subscription, and then you can catch The Odyssey on July 17, Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31 and Dune: Part Three on December 18.
