July 9, 2026
There have been a lot of ridiculous NBA takes during the recent season, but I’m here to offer what some may deem the wildest take yet. The Knicks fan version of Timothée Chalamet is now far more watchable as the lead actor in Dune: Part Three. Let me explain.
I’m just not a fan of science fiction and action films that show us an effete, model-type actor who weighs 130 lbs. easily dispatching a group of five hulking villains with his bare hands. This is what ruins The Batman, starring Robert “emo” Pattinson, for me. Pattinson in the lead role as what is supposed to be a tough guy an entire city of hardened criminals fears…well, it just doesn’t play realistically. I understand marketing and how Pattinson and Chalamet might appeal to many women aesthetically. There’s kind of a 1980s high-cheekbone, perfectly coiffed hair thing going on right now in Hollywood male leads. I get it.
But from a pure entertainment perspective, it’s difficult for me to buy that little Timmy just bitch smacks and murders the desert-hardened, large adult Fremen warrior, Jamis, played by Babs Olusanmokun, in Dune: Part One. Sure, Paul Atreides (Chalamet) is “the chosen one” and imbued with unusual abilities, both physical and mental, but sitting there watching that fight scene, well, I could only smirk. Truthfully, the main thing that got me through Part One and Part Two was the absolutely brilliant cinematography and VFX from director Denis Villeneuve.
So why am I now ready to fully buy Chalamet as Atreides, aka Muad’Dib, aka the Kwisatz Haderach? Somehow, it’s the Knicks’ championship run. Few NBA fans expected the Knicks to get to the Finals, much less win. But throughout the season, Chalamet put in the time on the sidelines in New York as a true Knicks fan. Sure, he’s been a lifelong fan, which is even more important, but most of us only started noticing his presence on the sidelines during the last few years as his star rose in Hollywood. Through the ups and downs, Chalamet has been a legitimate diehard Knicks fan, not a clout chaser or a bandwagoner.
And once you notice Chalamet on the sidelines—not vamping on a red carpet or staring down the camera in some movie clip—expressing the full, unbridled emotion of a true NBA fan, he suddenly seems a lot less like a manufactured Hollywood avatar and more like a real dude. This might not matter to a lot of his fans, but for many, this showed us something different.
“Wait, he’s a gritty Knicks guy? Well then, maybe I ‘could’ grab a beer with him. Maybe, in a different galaxy, in an alternate universe, he ‘could’ actually beat down a larger, savage desert revolutionary with ease.” Suddenly, the could-be soft, baguette-nibbling, French-name-bearing cinematic heartthrob Chalamet becomes NYC Timmy T, who might press you if you diss the Knicks. Yes, I’m reaching, but I think you get the idea.
Which brings us to the just-released trailer for Dune: Part Three. I was eager to see how I’d react to the Evil version of Atreides in the afterglow of the rabid-fan-powered Knicks championship. Folks, I’m buying it. I’ll let you enjoy the full glory of the new trailer for yourself, but suffice it to say that if you were, like me, among the Chalamet-as-Atreides-refusenik holdouts, and you watched the 2026 NBA Finals, then give Dune: Part Three a chance. From what I can see, Chalamet is giving great Evil and totally believable despicable character energy here. Of course, that’s a good thing for this film.
I’m not sure how long this Knicks halo effect will work on many of us for Chalamet, but for now, I can finally watch him without the nagging dude-bro doubt scratching at the back of my Neanderthal sci-fi nerd psychology.
Dune: Part Three, starring Chalamet, Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Florence Pugh (Thunderbolts*), and Rebecca Ferguson (Silo), arrives in theaters on December 18.
