Does 'The Drama' Know Zendaya Is Black?

Cannonball with Wesley Morris

The New York Times

News, News Commentary, Arts, Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Wesley loves Zendaya. The actress caught his eye as the charming but drug addled Rue in HBO’s “Euphoria.” But he thinks Hollywood hasn’t cast her in roles worthy of her considerable gifts. So when Zendaya showed up in the movie “The Drama” as a young Black woman with a secret from her past that threatens to derail her engagement to Robert Pattinson’s character, Wesley was cautiously optimistic. Here were two of Hollywood’s finest in a complex, high stakes, love affair — one made even more interesting by its interracial realities. But the movie inexplicably dodges the question of race. So Wesley invites Gina Cherelus, who covers dating and culture at The New York Times, to help him unpack "The Drama" — what it knows, and doesn’t, about what it’s up to.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Wesley Morris, and this is Cannonball today.
0:10.4	Zendaya and the drama, yet another movie with a black woman in a thang with a white man
0:17.3	where nobody wants to talk about the thing or the thing.
0:26.7	I love Zendaya. I love her. She is extremely charismatic. She is just fun to watch.
0:35.5	She has a great laugh. She can be extremely dramatic when necessary.
0:41.9	There's something about her eyes when they go dark.
0:44.8	There's something about her eyes when they go bright.
0:47.3	There is a soul in this person and her potential is off the charts.
0:53.3	Euphoria is back right now.
0:55.5	I am excited that that show was returned for its last season
0:58.9	because she's given one of the best performances
1:01.7	I've ever seen on TV.
1:03.3	But the movies have not responded to how good she is on that show
1:08.6	with material that is worthy of her.
1:11.9	Challenger's, Malcolm and Marie.
1:15.3	She's got a bunch of films coming out in 2026.
1:18.6	There's another Dune movie, another Spider-Man movie.
1:22.3	She's going to be in Christopher Nolan's Odyssey.
1:24.9	And right now, out for a month, the drama.
1:29.1	An almost good use of Zendaya.
1:32.5	The premise here is that two people are getting married,
1:35.1	and one night people start talking about the worst thing they did,
	...

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