Anya Taylor-Joy responds to Timothée Chalamet calling her ‘terrifying’ in Dune: Part Three

Anya Taylor-Joy is embracing Timothée Chalamet’s reaction to her character in Dune: Part Three.

The actress, 30, responded after her costar described her portrayal of Alia Atreides as “terrifying” while praising her performance in the upcoming sci-fi sequel.

Speaking with PEOPLE at the premiere of her new series Lucky at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles on Monday, July 13, Taylor-Joy said she considers Chalamet’s comment a compliment.

“If I scare Timmy, then we’re off to a good start,” she said, adding, “Yes, absolutely,” when asked if she viewed being called “terrifying” as positive feedback.

Chalamet, 30, previously praised Taylor-Joy’s role during the Global IMAX Fan Event, where the new trailer for Dune: Part Three was unveiled on July 8.

“[She is] unbelievable in this movie. Visually, it was breathtaking … she’s actually terrifying and amazing,” Chalamet said.

The Oscar nominee also highlighted Taylor-Joy’s unique presence in the film, saying, “Anya is something special in this movie,” while noting that the pair had limited interaction during Dune: Part Two.

Taylor-Joy made a brief appearance in Dune: Part Two as a future version of Alia Atreides, appearing in a vision experienced by Chalamet’s character, Paul Atreides. The upcoming third installment will feature a larger role for the character, who is Paul’s younger sister.

The actress previously teased the complexity of Alia in an interview with CinemaBlend, describing the character as someone carrying the knowledge and experiences of countless generations.

“Alia has a very intense blessing curse situation. She carries the weight and the wisdom of generations and generations in her head,” Taylor-Joy explained.

“She’s never in a singular conversation. It’s kind of all, everything, everywhere all at once. And the one thing that she really feels most strongly about is her love and devotion to her brother, because that is the only person who’s ever made her feel like she makes sense,” she added.

Alongside her upcoming return to the Dune universe, Taylor-Joy is also starring in Apple TV’s new miniseries Lucky, where she plays con artist Luciana “Lucky” Armstrong.

At the series premiere, the actress opened up about the challenge of portraying a character who constantly hides the truth.

“It was very interesting as a performer to play a character that I needed the audience to invest in while she was continuously lying, and that’s how you were getting to know her,” she told PEOPLE.

Taylor-Joy explained that she had to carefully balance revealing parts of the character while maintaining the mystery surrounding her.

“I felt like as a performer, the dial of every scene of, ‘Okay, how much am I letting the real Lucky shine through here.’ Because I don’t want to lose the audience versus how much did I really want to impress with the fact of, ‘Oh my God, she’s lying,’” she said.

Dune: Part Three is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Dec. 18, while Lucky premieres on Apple TV on July 15.