Anya Taylor-Joy says "there's never been anybody like" her Dune 3 character: "She is one of a kind"

Anya Taylor-Joy has shared a little more about her Dune 3 character, Alia Atreides, and it sounds like she's a force to be reckoned with.

"She is one of a kind," Taylor-Joy said during an appearance on the Today Show, after we caught the first glimpse of her character in the Dune 3 trailer. "There's never been anybody like her. She's named 'the Abomination,' and a lot of people find her really creepy, except for her brother. She has absolute prescience. She lives with the voice of generations of people in her head; she's never in a singular conversation, and that can drive someone a little bit crazy."

Alia is the sister of Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides, who we saw in Paul's visions and via her communication with her mother, Lady Jessica, in the womb in Dune 2. There's a pretty major time jump between the sequel and the threequel, though, so Alia is all grown up now.

In Frank Herbert's novel Dune Messiah, on which Denis Villeneuve's adaptation is based, Alia is born with the full powers of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. This is why the rest of the Bene Gesserit consider her an "Abomination," as she's had the consciousness of an adult since she was a baby.

Next up for Taylor-Joy, though, is something a little lighter – The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the sequel to 2023's animated hit, which hits the big screen on April 1. She reprises her role as Princess Peach alongside Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, and new cast members, including Donald Glover as Yoshi and Brie Larson as Princess Rosalina.

Dune 3 arrives in theaters on December 18. For more on what to watch, fill out your calendar with our guide to 2026's biggest movie release dates.