What would a Dune Messiah movie look like?

The biggest takeaway for Dune Messiah is [SPOILER ALERT] the return of Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa).

In Dune: Part Two (another spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie), it ended with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) defeating Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), suggesting that he take the hand of Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) in marriage and making the Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) submit to him.

Denis Villeneuve's Dune Messiah

He's been very busy, but so has the Landsraad — the collective Great Houses — whose ships congregated in Arrakis air space, summoned by the Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård). Paul ended up killing the Baron — after addressing him as grandfather).

In the movie, as Paul states that he's taking the Princess Irulan's hand in marriage to solidify his claim to the throne, Chani (Zendaya) leaves. The book has him asking his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and Chani negotiate the terms of their marriage.

In Dune Messiah, Paul has already been Emperor for 12 years. It's unclear whether Villeneuve will depict the fight between the Fremen and the Great Houses. It wasn't included in the 1984 David Lynch movie and 2000 miniseries. Neither was it in the 2003 sequel to the miniseries The Children of Dune which compressed two books — Messiah and Children — into a three-part miniseries. Nor was it written in the book.

It would be interesting to see how that plays out on screen, if Villeneuve decides to do introduce the battle between the Fremen and the Great Houses. If not, then it's also interesting to see how he continues the changes he's made in Part Two.

What happens to Lady Jessica in Messiah?

In Dune: Part Two, the Lady Jessica has a very prominent role. In Messiah, the she returned to Paul's home planet of Caladan, the former seat of his father, Duke Leto. Since the third part of the Dune saga happens mostly in Arrakis, Villeneuve might change this storyline to keep Jessican in the desert planet instead. And if this is one of the changes he makes, it would certainly make Alia (Anya Taylor Joy) and Jessica's story very different from the book.

In the book, Alia and Jessica have quite a fraught relationship. As a preborn, Alia has the full consciousness of an adult Bene Gesserit. As such, she is considered an abomination by the order. If she weren't an Atreides — the Emperor's sister — she would have been killed by the sisters since children born under these circumstances do not have the necessary defenses against the personalities of the ancestral individuals and memories. Thus, these children are highly susceptible to possession by their ancestors.

As I mentioned before, Jessica doesn't appear much in Messiah. If Villeneuve follows the book as faithfully as he did in the first two movies, then Ferguson wouldn't play much of a role in Messiah. It's unlikely that he would do the same as the 2003 miniseries, folding two books in one movie. After all, he did the opposite for Dune: one book shows in two parts.

What is Chani's role in the prophecy of Lisan al Gaib?

However, the biggest change from the book in the movie is Chani's inclusion in the Lisan al Gaib prophecy. The film makes use of Chani's Fremen name, Sihaya, which. means desert spring. Chani mentions that it's tied to a prophecy. However, she isn't a believer of those. It's only when Paul drinks the Water of Life that her name and her connection to the prophecy is revealed.

In the film, Jessica uses the Voice to compel Chani. She asks for the Water of Life to be brought to her. She then touches her face, to collect the tear that fell from her eye, before touching her finger to the Water of Life, effectively mixing them. After she takes this to Paul's lips, he awakens — coming back from the dead — thus fulfilling the prophecy.

Amidst all of that, the film did end with Chani leaving the palace. Villeneuve's Messiah will have to deal with reconciling the erstwhile lovers.

Those aren't the only questions that the third movie will have to answer.

Would Villeneuve add how the Great Houses fight the Fremen?

Will Jessica be present or will she leave for Caladan?

How will Chani and Paul reconcile? Remember that in the film, Chani has a fundamental objection with what Paul has accepted he is now: Muad'Dib and Lisan al Gaib. In the book, Chani remained with Paul and even helped the Lady Jessica negotiate the terms of his marriage with Princess Irulan.

And most importantly, how does Chani figure in this prophecy?

Villeneuve will have more than enough time to answer those questions. However, the other characters from the movie will most likely return for the third movie. Gurney Halleck (Josh Groban) is given Caladan. This may mean that he will, like the Lady Jessica, have a lesser role in the film. However, if Villeneuve changes the story to include Jessica Gurney in more substantial roles than they have in the book, this would mean a set in Caladan as well.

Stilgar (Javier Bardem) becomes Paul's chief advisor and became steward of Arrakis. He also was responsible for executing those who conspired against the emperor, disobeying Paul's orders and following Alia's instead.

Irulan (Florence Pugh) will have a larger role in Messiah as she quickly discovers that she is only wife in name to Paul. She won't bear his children and this causes her to resent and be jealous of Chani. She also carries out the Bene Gesserit order to make sure that Chani does not give Paul heirs — that task is reserved for her to continue the sisters' plans.

However, in the book, she ends up forsaking the Bene Gesserit when Chani dies in childbirth and Paul walks into the desert as a blind man. She devotes herself to caring for and instructing her stepchildren, Leto II and Ghanima. The twins are born during the events of Messiah.

Alia, who has never liked Irulan, allows her to continue being the twins' guardians. She doesn't do this just out of compassion for the princess; with Irulan's defection from the Bene Gesserit, there's no hope of the order manipulating the children.

It remains to be seen if the Lady Margot Fenring (Léa Seydoux) will play a larger role in the third film, especially with Villeneuve's changes, when she doesn't appear in the book. However, in Dune: Part Two, it was strong suggested that she may be pregnant with Feyd-Rautha's child. It's unclear what direction the filmmaker will take if this proves to be true in the movie.

As Villeneuve told Empire, he will only return to Arrakis if it's real and relevant.

“If we go back, it needs to be real, it needs to be relevant, if ever I do Dune Messiah, [it's] because it’s going to be better than Part Two. Otherwise, I don't do it,” he said.

Here's to hoping that Villeneuve changes the if to when.