The saga of Denis Villeneuve’sDuneadaptation continues, withDune Part 2making an impressive box-office impact andthe production ofDune 3currently 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.
Duneis already a tumultuous storyof love, tragedy, court intrigue, desert survival, and gigantic worms, and present as always is the spice.Dune: Messiahas an adaptation is expected to pick up whereDune Part 2left 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 Jul 09, 2025, by Kristy Ambrose:The release of Dune3is 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.
8The Guild Navigators
Intergalactic Travel And Folding Space
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 inDune(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’sDune, but they haven’t appeared o screen yet. In the books, they were also involved in the plot towipe 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.
7Irulan & Chani
Imperial Wife Versus Bound Concubine
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 upa 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 ofDune 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.
6The Birth Of The Twins
Paul Did Not Forsee His Son
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 heavyin pure Arrakis spicethat 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.
5The Return Of Duncan Idaho
The Ultimate Death Retcon
The Denis VilleneuveDuneadaptations 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 ofDune: Messiah. One of the first gifts Paul received from his allies wasa 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.
4Paul Is Blinded
Who Knew That Nukes Could Have A Downside
Paul’s first few yearsas 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, andPaul is blindedwhen 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.
3The Bene Tleilax
Building A Ghola
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 untilDune: 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.
2Chani Dies
Paul Retreats To The Desert
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.
1Empress Alia
The Path Of The Abomination
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 tothe path of the Abomination.
The Atreides bloodline also includessome 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.
