Anya Taylor-Joy confirms secret 'Dune: Part 2' role: 'A dream come true'
Anya Taylor-Joy is joining the "Dune"-iverse.
"The Queen's Gambit" star, 27, will be appearing "briefly" in "Dune: Part Two," a representative for Warner Bros. confirmed to USA TODAY Thursday. Taylor-Joy's role has been kept under wraps thus far.
The actor seemingly confirmed her casting by making an appearance at the sequel's London premiere Thursday night. Shrouded in a white Dior haute couture cape over a matching pleated gown with a plunging neckline, she teased her involvement in a live-streamed interview on Warner Bros. UK's TikTok account.
Taylor-Joy played coy, saying, "You'll have to see the film" to understand why she was at the premiere. The movie released in U.S. theaters on March 1.
"Having seen it, this is probably one of the best movies I've ever seen in my entire life," she said. "This is a dream come true. The books are incredible, but with this cast and with Denis (Villeneuve), it doesn’t get any better than that."
'Dune' director Denis Villeneuve: Anya Taylor-Joy's role was kept under lock and key
"I cannot believe that we kept the secret that long," director Denis Villeneuve told EW. "It required so much work to keep that secret." He added, "Everybody signed with their blood."
Taylor-Joy isn't the only newcomer to the "Dune" universe; the sci-fi epic also added Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Léa Seydoux and Christopher Walken to its star-studded cast, joining Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista and Javier Bardem, among others.
"Dune" stars Chalamet as Paul Atreides, a young man whose family is put in charge of the mining of a precious resource – the mind-altering Spice, which also is the key to interstellar travel – on the desert planet Arrakis. Paul survives a vicious attack from rival House Harkonnen and allies himself with the Fremen, a people indigenous to Arrakis, and Chani (Zendaya), a Fremen woman Paul's had visions of in his dreams.
The movie adapts the first half of author Frank Herbert's influential sci-fi classic, while "Part Two" will continue the story. Unlike some other big-budget franchises, both films were not made at the same time and Warner Bros. and Legendary took a wait-and-see approach to greenlighting a sequel.
More:What to know from the book 'Dune' before seeing the movie (or how to sound like you've read it)
Review:Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic 'Dune' is a mixed bag of eye-popping sci-fi, lackluster storytelling
Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY