Dune: 3 Book Characters the Movies Didn't Show Us (and What to Expect From Part Three)

Since the first film’s release in 2021, Dune has quickly become the reigning film trilogy of the decade. 

From the award-winning sound design to the immersive performances, director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s prescient book series has been able to capture modern audiences’ imaginations while remaining largely faithful to the books. However, in bringing such an epic book series, some sacrifices had to be made in favour of a more streamlined story.

As we prepare for the December 18 release of Dune: Part Three, let’s take a look at some of the characters that were left out of the films, and look ahead toward what we might expect from the third and, presumably, final instalment.

Dune Book Characters Who Didn’t Make It to the Screen

Harah

Harah is the wife of Jamis, the Fremen man Paul kills to secure his and his mother’s status as part of the Fremen population. After defeating Jamis in the book, Paul and the others go to the encampment at Sietch Tabr where he finds out he is now responsible for the slain man’s wife and children—and that Harah has by default also become his wife.

Since Paul was already pursuing his connection with Chani, and was uncomfortable with the Fremen custom of taking a defeated man’s wife as your own, he keeps Harah on as a servant and provides for her children. She remains with him loyally, and even cares for his children Leto and Ghanima as a nurse and guardian. Later on, she becomes the wife of Javier Bardem’s Stilgar—although I’m not sure we will see any of that happen in the films.

It’s likely that Harah wasn’t included in the films because her arc has relatively no effect on the overall plot. Given that the films are already brimming with characters and convoluted storylines, Villeneuve’s decision to leave her out makes perfect sense. In addition, the Fremen in the films are portrayed as having more progressive values than in Herbert’s books, and the idea of inheriting a woman as property likely didn’t fit well with Villeneuve’s modern vision of the group.

Count Hasimir Fenring

In the books, Count Hasimir Fenring was once considered a candidate to become the Kwisatz Haderach, and was trained in the Bene Gesserit ways. However, due to being a genetic eunuch, Fenring instead became one of the Empire’s top assassins, and Emperor Shaddam IV’s closest friend and confidant. 

While Count Fenring doesn’t appear at all in the films, his wife, Margot Fenring (played by Léa Seydoux), does. In Dune: Part Two, she plays a key role as the Bene Gesserit who seduces Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha before his big fight with Paul. She and the baby she’s carrying will likely be important in Part Three.

Although I can see why Count Fenring was excluded from the films, there’s one significant aspect about him that I could see being integrated into another character. In the books, he is the first character to prove invisible to prescient vision—in other words, Paul is unable to perceive him in his visions due to the Count’s own prescient abilities. While a few characters have this ability in the books, I could imagine someone else with such a power making Paul feel threatened in the upcoming film instalment.

Baby Alia

Before you angrily shout at your device that Alia does actually appear in the Dune films, you are right! However, her time as a baby is quite significant in the books, and seems likely to be completely cut from the films. Alia is Paul’s younger sister, born to Jessica shortly after they flee Arrakeen and join the Fremen. In the films, Jessica speaks to her growing belly often, and we even see a future vision of Alia (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) in Dune: Part Two, but we never see her as a child. 

In the books, Alia is one of the strangest and most surreal characters within its pages, since she is born with incredible power and wisdom. When Jessica underwent the Water of Life ritual while Alia was still in her womb, Alia too was given unprecedented access to ancestral memories, essentially imbuing her with the insight and power of all previous wise elders. As you might imagine, this makes for one unsettling baby, and a big part of the first book is Alia essentially creeping out the Fremen, and even her own mother.

Perhaps Villeneuve decided that depicting a baby capable of speech and cognition beyond her adult caregivers wouldn’t translate well to the screen—and I think he’d be right. In the books, Alia is actually the one to kill Baron Harkonnen—an act completed by Paul in the films—and I can’t help imagining a CGI two-year-old stabbing the massive Harkonnen giving serious A Series of Unfortunate Events vibes… 

Since Dune: Part Three takes place 12 years after the events of Part Two, it seems likely we’ll miss Alia's unsettling younger years on screen altogether—but that is probably for the best!

What to Expect From Dune: Part Three

While parts One and Two depicted the events of Frank Herbert’s first Dune book, Part Three appears to be based on its sequel, Dune: Messiah. While the first book depicts Paul Atreides’s ascent to power, becoming a formidable revolutionary force, Messiah sees him and the world deal with the darker side of that power. 

Messiah starts out with a significant time jump, bringing us 12 years into the future. When we left Paul at the end of Part Two, he had successfully dispatched Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV (Christopher Walken) and taken his daughter, Empress Irulan (Florence Pugh), as his consort. However, trouble was already brewing as the other major houses refused to recognise his ascension to the throne. In addition, Chani left for Arrakis after growing increasingly disillusioned with Paul’s hubris and his growing appetite for power.

At the start of the Dune: Messiah book, we find Paul’s status as Emperor has been solidified, but there are still those who challenge his authority and seek to overthrow him. However, over the years, Paul’s status as a religious figure, particularly among the Fremen, has grown exceptionally strong, and he has fallen victim to the adage ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. 

As the restlessness grows, Messiah seeks to understand whether a Lisan al-Gaib or Kwisatz Haderach is something truly divinely chosen, or if the title is simply given if enough people choose to believe it.