The below contains spoilers for “Challengers.”
Zendaya is admitting that yes, the ending of “Challengers” can be considered “confusing,” especially since her own mother had an entirely different take on it than she did.
The actress told New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan that it makes sense why the ambiguous final scene is “confusing” for audiences.
“My mom read the ending so different[ly]. My mom is like, ‘She’s pissed because they realize that they don’t need her anymore,’” Zendaya said in an interview excerpt tweeted by journalist Buchanan. “I was like, ‘But I smile a little bit at the end!’”
The final sequence captures Tashi (Zendaya) watching as her almost-retired husband Art (Mike Faist) and his former best friend (and Tashi’s ex, with whom she recently rekindled a romance) Patrick (Josh O’Connor) embrace on the tennis court without a winner being announced. Tashi screams “Come on!” from the sidelines, harkening back to her own teen U.S. Open win before she was forced into retirement due to an injury. Tashi had previously explained in the film that her screaming “Come on!” at her own opponent was because they were finally engaging in tennis in its truest form; the same could be considered of watching Art and Patrick bridge their friendship and arguable own romance in the final moments of their tournament.
But that’s only one interpretation, just as Zendaya and her mother have two distinct takes as well.
“My mom was watching it behind me and every time my character does something bad or cheats on her husband or whatever, she’s like ‘Why do you do that?’ She’s so angry with Tashi, she’s so upset,” Zendaya said. “But it’s interesting, I was like, ‘What? I don’t know where you got that from.’ I’m in the movie and I feel like I have a good sense of what I thought this ending was supposed to be, and she was like, ‘No. This is what it is. So sorry.’”
Director Luca Guadagnino agreed, adding, “Isn’t is so beautiful that we have an open ending that people like? Because everybody says, ‘No. Never open ending. You have to know what happens at the end.’”
The cast, including Zendaya and O’Connor, quipped that there must be a “Challengers: Part Two” to clarify the ending, in reference to Zendaya starring in “Dune: Part Two.”
Elsewhere in the New York Times interview, Zendaya admitted that she is not quite ready to direct yet despite filmmakers like Guadagnino and “Dune: Part Two” director Denis Villeneuve saying she has a natural eye for it. Guadagnino even compared Zendaya’s character Tashi to being a director of both of her loves’ careers and personal lives. Let the “Challengers” debates continue…
