All of Zendaya's Movies Coming in 2026 & 2027
Even in a year when several high-profile stars are popping up in a few of the biggest movies, Zendaya’s 2026 stands out from the pack.
The 29-year-old superstar has already played the lead in Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, a provocative and hilarious farce from A24 that fast became the most talked about indie of the year. The actress can also currently be seen on the small screen, where she is reprising her breakout role as Rue on the third season of HBO’s Euphoria. For mere mortals, those two projects alone would make any year a standout; for Zendaya, they’re really just the appetisers for what’s to come.
In the list below, you’ll find a rundown of Zendaya’s incredible roster of upcoming projects, all the way up to summer next year and (a little bit) beyond. Read on to learn a bit more about each one and use the guide below to find out where and when to see them — both in theatres and eventually on streaming services such as Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
Avengers: Secret Wars, Cleopatra, and Be My Baby (Rumoured)
Before we get started with the list proper, it’s worth slipping briefly into rumours and speculation. Will Zendaya pop up again in Avengers: Secret Wars in December next year? Will Denis Villeneuve ever get around to making that Cleopatra movie (in which the actress was rumoured to star), now that Bond 26 is on his desk? Perhaps Nolan will take it upon himself to pen a sequel to Homer’s millennia-old classic. We will have to wait and see.
One thing that seems to genuinely be in the works is Be My Baby, an A24-produced biopic of Ronnie Spector (lead singer of The Ronettes), which is being helmed by Barry Jenkins, and in which Zendaya is reportedly set to star. Having switched to the small screen to make The Underground Railroad in 2021 and having only returned to features for Disney’s Mufasa in 2024, Be My Baby will mark Jenkins’ first mature film project since breaking out (and breaking all our hearts) with Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk a decade ago. It is long overdue.
Depending on how things pan out, any one of Zendaya’s three yet-to-be-released projects this year has the potential to be the biggest movie of the year. If you had to put money on it, however, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, a movie that’s opening in the prime mid-summer slot of July 17, looks like the safest bet for both box office and awards.
Nolan’s first project since Oppenheimer basically boasts one of the great who’s who of A-list stars of all time, but Zendaya will presumably feature heavily in her role as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war. Buckle up, it’s going to be absolutely huge.
Just two weeks after The Odyssey hits theatres, fans of all things Zendaya and Tom Holland (the latter of whom is playing Telemachus in Nolan’s movie) will be treated to a second helping of the recently engaged couple in Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The story is set to essentially pick up where No Way Home — a movie that ended with the world forgetting who Peter Parker is — left off. The promotional material so far has been promising a more street-level Spidey story, with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher appearing alongside a host of new villains. All that aside, the opportunity to see Holland’s Peter and Zendaya’s M.J. falling for each other all over again will, I think, be worth the entry alone.
At the time of writing, we really have no way of knowing if M.J. will appear in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday or what that might even look like. The climactic multiversal showdown movie will likely use much of its running time bringing together the disparate original heroes of the MCU with the likes of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men (old and new) while also giving an origin story for Doctor Doom and Secret Wars. If Spider-Man does appear — which has also not been confirmed just yet — there’s every chance Zendaya will appear alongside him in at least a brief cameo.
Mark this one down as a hard maybe.
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Three until that incredible trailer dropped just after the Oscars last month. Since then, it’s become my most anticipated Hollywood movie of the year.
As Dune readers will be aware, Villeneuve’s third instalment is drawing from Frank Herbert’s Dune: Messiah — famously, the point in the saga where the story really started to go off the wall. But any feeling of uncertainty was wiped out by that remarkably confident-looking teaser, and anything I’ve heard about it since (early word from Cinema Con included) has been positive to the point of evangelical.
With the story presumably moving away from Arrakis, it’s difficult to know just how much of Zendaya’s Chani we will get to see, but by the looks of Anya Taylor-Joy in that trailer, we imagine they will find a way to keep her in. Either way, this one's gonna rule.
If, after a year of premieres and press responsibilities (how many times can one woman give her assessment of UK snacks?), Zendaya decides to take a breather in 2027, more power to her.
At the time of writing, the actress’s only confirmed release for next year is Shrek 5 — the long-delayed and hotly anticipated seventh movie in the beloved DreamWorks franchise.
At this point, we still don’t know a huge amount about it aside from the fact that it will focus on Shrek and Fiona’s relationship with their teenage daughter, Felicia, who is voiced by Zendaya. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy will, of course, be reprising their roles. I’m sure it’ll be a hoot.
