Zendaya is “the mom” of the Challengers group chat.
The 27-year-old actress starred alongside Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist in the romantic sports film earlier this year, and Zendaya has revealed that she remains close to her co-stars.
She told Vanity Fair’s 2025 Hollywood Issue: “There’s a group chat. I say I’m the mom of the group because I’m always like, ‘Hey guys, checking in. Hope you’re okay.’ And to give them credit they do respond. Mike’s the worst at responding, but we let that go.”
In the movie, Zendaya’s character was at the center of a love triangle involving O’Connor’s and Faist’s characters.
Zendaya calls casting ‘really lucky’
The actress has admitted that she was “really lucky” to work with them, describing O’Connor and Faist as “lovely guys.”
“I’m really lucky because they are just the most lovely guys,” Zendaya reflected. “When you’re in a film like that, where it’s really just the three of us and the characters are also intimately involved and emotionally intertwined with each other, it’s really important that whoever you’re acting beside not only is talented, which they clearly obviously are, but is also lovely and makes you feel safe and supported as a scene partner. They both definitely offered that space.”
Zendaya also offered: “We also had a lot of fun. We all appreciate and take our jobs seriously, [but] not too seriously, you know what I mean? We still enjoy the process. We can laugh and have fun, and joke around and also still be present when we need to. It was nice to have that levity. Man, I felt so bad with Josh. I was like, ‘I’m constantly just slapping you, and spitting on you. This is just so awful, I’m so sorry.’ He was just so cool about it. I’m like, ‘Goodness, girl, you gotta keep your hands off people.'”
