Dune 3: Things That Should Happen In The Movie Sequel

The saga of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation continues, with Dune Part 2 making an impressive box-office impact and the production of Dune 3 currently ongoing. Officially known by the same name as the novel, Dune: Messiah, the third movie will be an adaptation of the second book in Frank Herbert’s series, and tells the story of Paul’s first few years as the Emperor of the Known Universe.

Dune is already a tumultuous story of love, tragedy, court intrigue, desert survival, and gigantic worms, and present as always is the spice. Dune: Messiah as an adaptation is expected to pick up where Dune Part 2 left off, and hopefully it will include a few important plot points that aren’t just essential to the story’s resolution but also fascinating to watch.

Updated July 20, 2024, by Kristy Ambrose: The release of Dune 3 is currently set for December 2024. Until then, fans can immerse themselves in the books, video games, or the upcoming MAX prequel series, Dune: Prophecy. What exactly director Denis Villeneuve has planned for the next movie is uncertain. People and places that were in the first two books, but haven’t yet appeared in the movies could make an appearance, along with plenty of material from Frank Herbet’s novel, Dune: Messiah.

The following events take place in the first two books of the Dune series, Dune and Dune: Messiah.Major spoiler warning ahead for those who have not read the books or seen the SyFy miniseries.

8 The Guild Navigators

Intergalactic Travel And Folding Space

• Made Dune impossible to adapt into live-action.

So much of what Frank Herbert wrote in his books was described in an abstract or ethereal way that made it hard to visualize, and the mysterious Spice Navigators are one example. The form that they take, after decades of consuming large quantities of spice, was only briefly and vaguely described by Herbert, so directors and special-effects people have had some fun with the concept.

David Lynch included his vision of the Guild Navigators in Dune (1984), and the audience might have been unprepared for their bizarre appearance. However, the scenes with the grotesque Spice Navigators and their retinue of translators and janitors are some of the most creative and compelling in the film.

The Guild Navigators exist in Villeneuve’s Dune, but they haven’t appeared o screen yet. In the books, they were also involved in the plot to wipe out House Atredies, and later they’ll plan similar assassination attempts when Paul is the Emporer, so Villeneuve might include them in the next movie.

7 Irulan & Chani

Imperial Wife Versus Bound Concubine

• An imperial plot to determine the future bloodline of the ruling family.

There was a pivotal scene between Chani and Paul at the end of the book that wasn’t present in the movie. He pledges to her that his imperial union will be in name only, and Irulan will have no more of him than his title. It’s an important scene because it sets up a conflict between Chani and Irulan, the former of whom has been instructed by her Bene Gesserit superiors to continue the Atreides bloodline.

Considering the events of Dune Part 2, this conversation is yet to happen, but when it does, Irulan and her Bene Gesserit allies form a plot to drug Chani’s food to keep her from getting pregnant. Her unknown bloodline doesn’t fit in with their plans.

Chani’s discovery of this plan leads to a chilling confrontation between a Fremen warrior and an imperial princess. Chani then leaves the court to retreat to her Seitch and get away from the royal kitchens.

6 The Birth Of The Twins

Paul Did Not Forsee His Son

• Muad’Dib saw Ghamina in his visions, but not Leto II.

Paul always knew that there would be children, as he also told Chani, but he was only partly right. After Chani left the palace, she adopted a new diet heavy in pure Arrakis spice that would make her more likely to conceive. This wasn’t the same as Jessica imbibing the Water of Life while pregnant with Alia, but any children born to Chani would have similar abilities when it came to ancestral memory and clairvoyance.

She gave birth to twins, Ghanima and Leto II, and it is somewhat ironic that it was Irulan who was most responsible for their care and upbringing. Despite her royal machinations, Irulan raised the twins as her own and was a more effective nurturer than their aunt, Alia.

5 The Return Of Duncan Idaho

The Ultimate Death Retcon

• The introduction of the Ghola, which helps rebuild House Atreides.

The Denis Villeneuve Dune adaptations have left out some of the more problematic and abstract parts of Frank Herbert’s universe, such as the Navigators, for example, but it would be even more awkward to leave the Ghola out of a version of Dune: Messiah. One of the first gifts Paul received from his allies was a Ghola of Duncan Idaho, named Hayt.

A Ghola is a clone, and it was about the time that Paul took the imperial throne that the technology had reached a point where the clones would have the memories of the person they were cloned from, whereas previously, they were only copies. Hayt had many of Duncan Idaho’s original memories and was loyal to the Atreides family as a result.

4 Paul Is Blinded

Who Knew That Nukes Could Have A Downside

• He can still see because of the spice, but it eventually prompts his retreat into the desert, the final chapter of the prophecy.

Paul’s first few years as Emperor are tumultuous, and most of it consists of defending his claim from the other royal houses that refuse to recognize his right to the throne, despite his marriage to Irulan. He has his family’s collection of atomic weapons, but his enemies have similar caches, and Paul is blinded when he gets caught too close to a blast.

His physical vision is destroyed, but instead, he uses his third eye to see, which has been opened by years of spice exposure. This ability is connected to his emotional well-being, however, and after a traumatic experience from which he can’t recover, his eyesight fades completely. He abdicates the throne to Alia and disappears into the desert.

3 The Bene Tleilax

Building A Ghola

• A religious order obsessed with genetics, breeding, and killing Paul Atreides.

The Bene Tleilax were a religious order similar to the Bene Gesserit, but they were rivals when it came to their ultimate plans for the universe. There’s little to be said about this mysterious order until Dune: Messiah, when they emerge as part of the plot to wipe out House Atreides and continue their plans by targeting Paul as Emperor.

They used a creature called a ghola, which is a clone of another person who also has some memories of their former life, to get close to Paul. They were the ones who gave him Hayt, the clone of Duncan Idaho, as a gift for his coronation. Their other creation was the Face Dancers, dangerous assassins who could change their appearance to look like anyone. They would target not only Paul, but also his sister Alia and his children, Leto II and Ghanima.

2 Chani Dies

Paul Retreats To The Desert

• A Fedaken Warrior, Seyadeena, and the bound concubine of Emperor Paul Atreides.

The use of a spice diet to encourage fertility had some drawbacks. It accelerated the rate of Chani’s pregnancy and presented even more inherent risk to the mother, and Chani was already in physical danger because of the drugs Irulan had been giving her.

Chani gave birth to the twins after only five months of pregnancy, and the stress was too much for her body. By the time Paul arrived to meet his children, she was dead. This prompted his total loss of vision, abdicating the throne, and retreating into exile in the desert.

1 Empress Alia

The Path Of The Abomination

• Only appears as a “pre-born” entity to Jessica and Paul in Dune Part 2.

Alia is Paul’s younger sister, the daughter that Jessica was supposed to have instead of a son, and imbibed the Water of Life while still in the womb. The powers that she gained in utero eventually proved to be too great to resist or control, and Alia would eventually succumb to the path of the Abomination.

The Atreides bloodline also includes some Harkonnen ancestry, with Jessica secretly being the daughter of the Baron. Without the guidance of her mother, who is isolated by her duties out in the desert, or another benevolent ancestor, Alia falls victim to the whims of her maternal grandfather’s voice as a haunting presence. The Atreides family almost loses the throne because of it.