What We Know (and What We Desperately Hope) Will Happen in Dune: Part Three

This posting was initially published on February 29, 2024. As of Could 21, 2024, Dune: Element Two is streaming on Max.

Warning: Major spoilers in advance for the ending of Dune: Portion Two.

By splitting Frank Herbert’s Dune into two parts, Denis Villeneuve pulled a bait and change with audience expectations. In the to start with movie, you can look at Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides as a reasonably standard “chosen one” hero, but by the finish of Element Two, the tide has turned. Paul embraces his destiny as the figurehead of a holy war, foreshadowing a catastrophic rise to electrical power. In the as-nonetheless unfilmed Dune: Section Three, Paul’s life is established to consider an even darker convert, with Villeneuve asserting designs to adapt the epic Dune Messiah.

Described by Villeneuve as a tragedy, Dune: Section Two leans into Paul’s function as Lisan al Gaib — the prophesied savior of the Fremen, the indigenous populace of Arrakis. In the beginning unwilling to proclaim himself their messiah, Paul tries to dwell between the Fremen as an equivalent, discovering their skills and traditions. It doesn’t hurt that he promptly falls in enjoy with a Fremen warrior, Chani (Zendaya). Additional cynically, he is familiar with the Fremen are important allies in his quest to defeat the Harkonnens, a repulsive dynasty of bald goths who killed Paul’s father in the very first movie.

At first, Paul is mostly enthusiastic by a wish for revenge. But Paul’s mom Jessica (a steely-eyed Rebecca Ferguson) has extra formidable strategies in head. Raised by the Bene Gesserit (Dune’s ruthless Illuminati sisterhood of psychic witches), she’s content to supporter the flames of spiritual fervor if it provides her son extra power.

There are lots of skeptics among the the Fremen (together with Chani), but Jessica does her ideal to sway general public feeling towards Paul. Just after knocking back again some hallucinogenic sandworm juice and getting the Fremen’s new Bene Gesserit matriarch, she commences to whip up guidance amongst the zealots.

Meanwhile, Paul retains exhibiting suspiciously messianic qualities. He harnesses the most significant sandworm in living memory and becomes a infamous guerilla leader, sabotaging the Harkonnens’ rule over Arrakis. In spite of owning prophetic nightmares that he’ll spark a wave of destruction if he arrives to energy, he at some point accepts his purpose as Lisan al Gaib.

The turning issue arrives when Paul beverages his personal dose of sandworm bile, supercharging his latent powers of precognition. Offering a maniacal speech to a gathering of Fremen leaders, he cements his picture as the holy savior of Arrakis. It is a hair-increasing overall performance from Chalamet.

Like Element One particular, Section Two concludes with a duel and an epic fight, tying jointly Paul’s overlapping ambitions: his plan to destroy the Harkonnens, his future as a Fremen prophet, and his newfound need to overthrow Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken), who has been manipulating gatherings on Arrakis from afar.

Shaddam and his daughter Irulan (Florence Pugh) get there just in time to see Paul conquer the Harkonnen fortress and get rid of Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård). Paul then threatens to nuke the planet’s spice fields — the rationale why all people needs to command Arrakis in the first put — until the emperor surrenders. They settle this dispute the outdated-fashioned way, with a duel between Paul and the emperor’s winner Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler). When Paul inevitably wins, the emperor is forced to abdicate and surrender Irulan’s hand in marriage, securing Paul’s assert to the throne.

The other Excellent Residences — i.e., Dune’s feudal overlords — are significantly less amazed, rejecting Paul’s assert out of hand. So Paul finishes Aspect Two on a terrifying observe, commanding his followers to “send them to paradise.” Disturbed by her boyfriend’s tumultuous victory and impromptu royal betrothal, Chani flees into the desert by itself.

This part features important spoilers for Dune: Messiah.

Villeneuve envisioned his Dune adaptation as a trilogy, with Element A few masking the situations of Dune: Messiah, Herbert’s second Dune novel. He verified a short while ago that the script is “nearly concluded,” while Portion 3’s existence depends on Part Two’s box-office environment results. (The very first film manufactured an extraordinary $402 million inspite of being unveiled concurrently in theaters and on HBO Max, so the symptoms below are very good.)

It may also be a while before filming begins. Just after producing two Dune motion pictures again-to-again, Villeneuve expressed a want to just take a break from Arrakis. Luckily, this suits the 12-calendar year gap involving the events of Dune and Dune: Messiah. Chalamet, Zendaya, and Pugh aren’t in danger of getting old out of their roles.

Messiah reintroduces Paul as the emperor, caught in a convoluted world-wide-web of political intrigue. Right after reaching victory by a combination of aristocratic privilege, superior training, and religious/political machinations, he’s now trapped by his personal picture as a charismatic prophet. His terrifying visions have come true, with billions of persons dying as he procedures from the epicenter of a holy war.

If something, adapting Dune: Messiah is an even much more daunting activity than the to start with two movies. There is no way Villeneuve and his screenwriting associate Jon Spaihts can cram every little thing in, looking at the book’s elaborate tangle of subplots involving Paul’s precognitive superpowers, Irulan and Chani’s reproductive abilities, a clone of Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), and Paul’s sister Alia in a prominent new part.

Alia’s absence from Section Two is basically a considerable departure from e-book canon. Anya Taylor-Pleasure will get a transient cameo as the adult Alia for the duration of a aspiration sequence, but if not she’s continue to a fetus all through the movie, at times interjecting with telepathic commentary from inside of Jessica’s womb. In the e-book, even so, Paul and Jessica invest years rather than months in the deserts of Arrakis. Alia is born and elevated amongst the Fremen.

By the time Paul defeats Shaddam IV, Alia’s already a youthful kid — albeit with the powers and maturity of an adult Bene Gesserit. In fact, she’s the a person who kills Baron Harkonnen in the initial tale. (If you have seen David Lynch’s Dune, you may remember her currently being performed by a 7-year-aged Alicia Witt in a mini Bene Gesserit costume.)

It made sense for Villeneuve to edit Alia out of Component Two because the film is previously quite prolonged. But she’ll presumably have a important job in Aspect 3, which includes a probable romance with the aforementioned Duncan Idaho clone. This is, incidentally, only about the tenth-weirdest thing to take place to Duncan as the Dune novels descend into glorious chaos.

As Villeneuve politely place it in a modern job interview, “the publications become far more … esoteric” just after Dune: Messiah. But you could argue this is a characteristic, not a bug. Do we want to see Alia get possessed by her lifeless grandfather Baron Harkonnen, forcing Anya Taylor-Joy to do a Stellan Skarsgård perception when enjoying a ability-hungry sexual intercourse maniac? Assuredly sure. This type of issue is the lifeblood of pulp science fiction.

Whilst Villeneuve’s Dune flicks existing themselves as lofty dramas, some of Part Two’s best times emerge from its wacky performances and peculiar lore: Javier Bardem’s slyly hilarious function as the Fremen chief Stilgar, Jessica speaking about method with her telepathic fetus, or Feyd-Rautha’s vampiric BDSM orgies. Their leisure worth arrives from the encroaching realization that just about all of the most important characters are overall freaks. Part Three really should thrive on this philosophy.

Closely concerned with Paul’s line of succession, Dune: Messiah sees Irulan (his wife in title only) and Chani (his correct companion) both of those are unsuccessful to conceive an heir. In Chani’s scenario, this is for the reason that Irulan is secretly feeding her contraceptive medicines. For Irulan, there is a extra clear-cut rationalization: Paul refuses to slumber with her.

In addition to remaining a basic manufacturer of royal melodrama, this conflict ties into Frank Herbert’s obsession with genetic destiny and bloodlines. (Never forget about the scene in Component Two exactly where Léa Seydoux’s character seduces the “psychotic” Feyd-Rautha on behalf of the Bene Gesserit breeding software, harvesting his important Harkonnen DNA.)

In just one of Dune’s most explicit influences on Star Wars, Messiah attracts to a close with Chani offering start to superpowered twins and then dying, major Paul into an emotional breakdown. This tragic arc will probably make it into the movie intact, but the very same just can’t be mentioned for a lot of Messiah’s qualifications globe-building.

Villeneuve will most likely have to trim some of the book’s political lore — though he can’t avoid the wildest subplot, the return of Paul’s dead mentor Duncan Idaho. He gets resurrected as a “ghola” (similar to a clone) named Hayt, a sleeper agent developed to sabotage Paul’s rule. Frank Herbert loved this concept so a great deal that he just retained resurrecting Duncan Idaho once again and all over again in later books.

You can comprehend why Villeneuve desires to wrap items up with Messiah. Even so, it is tempting to visualize a potential exactly where the franchise just retains going, shifting registers from weighty political drama to psychedelic room opera like the guides.

By the time we access the fourth installment, God Emperor of Dune, 3,500 yrs have handed and Paul’s son Leto II is a quasi-immortal human-sandworm hybrid, ruling the universe with a stranglehold on spice output. At a person issue, he receives embroiled in a adore triangle with a attractive ambassador genetically engineered to seduce him, and — you guessed it! — yet one more clone of Duncan Idaho. If somebody does preserve adapting these novels, Jason Momoa will never be out of perform. A fitting tribute to Frank Herbert’s eyesight.