Zendaya opened up to Vanity Fair about struggling to figure out how Chani would naturally flirt with Paul. The actress explained that she had to ask herself several questions about the characters' relationship, including: "How do they flirt? What does that look like for a space warrior and the young duke of a planet? How do they show that they like each other? What does that even sound like?" She eventually established that love between Chani and Paul would probably be "awkward and uncomfortable," as it tends to be in the beginning. 

Since Chani is so fierce, intimidating, and flawless in Paul's eyes, Zendaya wondered at first if her character would even have awkward feelings at all. Ultimately, the former Disney star went with her instincts and leaned into her understanding of the universal experience of love. Zendaya told the magazine that everyone can relate to that and emphasized, "These characters are just young people forced into really, really intense circumstances."