Summary
- Villeneuve successfully adapted the entirety of
Dune
to film in two parts, with added character development and impactful changes. - Princess Irulan and Chani undergo significant expansions in story and agency, enhancing the depth and impact of the plot.
- The film simplifies complex subplots, compresses timelines, and makes smart changes, leading to a more impactful and fully realized adaptation.
Spoiler Alert: Spoilers follow for Dune: Part TwoWith the release of Dune: Part Two this weekend, director Denis Villeneuve has officially accomplished what many once said was impossible. He has adapted the entirety of Frank Herbert’s epic novel to film (albeit with a necessary split into two films to fully capture its complexity). He brought the world of Arrakis vividly to life with astonishing attention to detail, effectively transporting the audience to another world the way Peter Jackson once accomplished with The Lord of the Rings. Above all, he managed to make his two Dune films work as movies, making it easy for mainstream audiences to get emotionally involved without getting lost in the world’s complexity (it says something that even David Lynch couldn’t pull this off).
But film and literature are completely different mediums. As such, Villeneuve still had to make some necessary alterations from the original story, even with the biggest canvas to tell it. As fanboys prepare to return to the desert this weekend, we’re taking a look at the most significant changes Dune: Part Two made from the original novel, why these changes were likely made, and how they affect the story.
Further Development of Side Characters in Dune 2
Since Dune: Part Two covers roughly the final third of Frank Herbert’s novel, many of the changes Villeneuve made were understandably additions to further develop a supporting cast largely dominated by new characters and to give the story as much room to breathe as possible. In fact, the final third of Herbert’s novel, while still fantastic, is arguably a bit rushed, and as such, the extra space given to a chunk of the story full of shocking turns allows said turns to have more of an impact.
Regarding the supporting cast, one of the most significant overhauls involves Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), the daughter of Emperor Shaddam (Christopher Walken). Her role in the novel, where she watches her father get overthrown and reluctantly becomes engaged to Paul, the usurper, is confined almost entirely to the final chapter. Here, she’s a fully-fledged character, appearing in several scenes as she gradually becomes aware of her father’s secret deal with Baron Harkonnen to take down House Atreides and of the likely price he’ll have to pay as his involvement becomes known throughout the galaxy. Additionally, her decision to marry Paul ultimately gives her much more agency; she willingly volunteers to become his bride to allow her family to maintain political power and influence.
10 Best Movies Like Dune to Watch Next
From Interstellar to Blade Runner 2049, here are exceptional and visually stunning films like Dune that we recommend watching next.
But the most significant and impactful character expansions involve Chani (Zendaya), Paul’s initial love interest and a Fremen. Whereas in the novel, the character was mostly a bystander to the action, Villeneuve makes her a much more direct participant in it, and it’s mostly through her eyes that the story’s tragedy becomes clear. Since she’s established as a cynic and more skeptical of the Fremen belief system, she’s more unwilling to accept Paul as a messiah for their tribe.
Additionally, her romantic relationship with Paul is also greatly expanded. While Herbert’s novel mostly compresses their developing love within a time jump, Villeneuve wisely takes his time and lets us see Chani’s gradual respect for Paul and the ways in which her love keeps him emotionally grounded. In fact, maybe the most gutting part of Paul’s eventual transformation into the Kwisatz Haderach is how it drives a wedge into his relationship since Chani had rightfully warned him against choosing a path of bloodshed. In the final scene, when Paul decides to marry Irulan for political reasons, we see his betrayal through Chani’s eyes and see how far he’s fallen.
Compressing of Subplots in Dune 2
Of course, Villeneuve’s changes from the novel aren’t exclusively additions. Frank Herbert’s subplots involving the political intrigue around Arrakis and the Great Houses were dense even for sci-fi literature and would simply be too convoluted to translate to film, and as such, most of the changes involve simplifying the intrigue a bit.
In the book, Rabban (Dave Bautista) is nothing more than a plot device, a pawn that Baron Harkonnen plans to use to drive spice production into the ground before winning Arrakis favor by installing his nephew, Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha as a seemingly more benevolent ruler. In the film, there’s already plenty of political intrigue driving the main plot, so Rabban is an imbecile entirely of his free will, putting his family’s operation at risk out of his obsession to stop the Fremen uprising, forcing the Baron to install a new leader out of pure necessity.
As previously mentioned, the timeline of the story is heavily compressed from the span of a few years in the novel to seemingly only months in the film. This leads to the absence of two minor but significant figures from the book. The first of these is Leto II, a child born to Paul and Chani, who gets only a couple of scenes before being tragically killed in a Harkonnen attack.
The more notable absence is Paul’s sister, Aria Atreides, who, in the book, Lady Jessica gives birth to in the middle of the time jump. She also plays a significant role in the climax; since Jessica drinks the Water of Life while unknowingly pregnant, her daughter is accidentally given the powers of a Reverend Mother, aging rapidly after birth and even delivering the fatal blow to Baron Harkonnen (Paul does this in the film). Villeneuve likely realized how packed Part Two was, even as only the final third of a novel, and to keep his story focused primarily on Paul’s journey, Aria ends the film unborn (though she makes a cameo in one of Paul’s visions, played by Anya Taylor-Joy).
Dune 2’s Rebecca Ferguson Dishes on Former ‘Idiot’ Co-Star Who Made Her Cry: ‘You Can F— Off’
Rebecca Ferguson said she’d rather have worked with a tennis ball; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would “like to find out who did this.”
The Changes Serve Dune 2’s Story
Thankfully, almost all the changes Villeneuve makes are smart ones; they simplify a hugely complex narrative, and even more importantly, they give the story room to breathe. Even in the novel, the final chunk of action could’ve used a bit more fleshing out, and Villeneuve does exactly this, allowing each shocking plot development to actually mean something and developing his characters to the point where the story’s ultimate tragedy is able to hit as hard as it does. It’s one of the wisest translations of a book into film in a long time, understanding that the two mediums require different things, and it’s ensured that a novel once thought impossible to adapt has finally been done justice, earning overwhelming praise. Dune: Part Two is playing in theaters now.
