When did you first take notice of Zendaya? Was it back in her Disney days, when she played opposite Bella Thorne in Shake It Up, or a few years later when she snagged her own show, the spy thriller-comedy K.C. Undercover? Though Z has gone on to do much bigger things, including starring in HBO's critically-praised Euphoria and winning an Emmy Award for her role as Rue, her Disney days are never too far from her mind.
In a new cover interview with GQ, Zendaya revealed that she and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson were thinking of projects they could work on together during the early days of quarantine, and K.C. Undercover came up. On the show, which ran from 2015 to 2018, Zendaya played high schooler K.C., a math superstar who is also a part-time spy alongside her family. According to Z, Sam pitched a grown-up version K.C. with a horror movie edge. “I was just on the pavement outside in my backyard because I didn't have outdoor furniture yet, talking to Sam,” she recounted. “He's like, ‘What if we did something almost like a horror movie where you've lost it because you still think you're on K.C. Undercover? You could be in the house like dah, dah, dah, and you're still stuck being this Disney Channel actress, and people are like, ‘No. You're not K.C. anymore.'” Zendaya wasn't into the idea of a revisit, but the project they discussed eventually turned into their forthcoming Netflix movie, Malcolm & Marie.
While she may not have wanted to revisit the iconic KC, Zendaya appreciates her Disney past — and loves hearing that she's played a role in someone's life. “I played this card-game thing recently, We're Not Really Strangers, or whatever it's called,” she told GQ. “One of the questions was ‘What's a random compliment that strangers give you that makes you feel good?’ For me, it's when people say that their kids watched me. They just say, ‘We're really proud of you, girl. We're proud of you. Keep doing what you're doing. I see you.'"
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