The Dune movies from director Denis Villeneuve distinguish themselves by the sheer number of high-wattage stars that feature in them. Hollywood golden boy Timothée Chalamet is Paul Atreides, the deposed scion of a noble house turned desert messiah. Euphoria star Zendaya is his love interest Chani, Star Wars veteran Oscar Issac his father Leto, Oscar nominee Austin Butler his rival Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and decorated actor Florence Pugh his future wife Princess Irulan. Josh Brolin, Thanos himself, plays House Atreides retainer Gurney Halleck, Game of Thrones veteran Jason Momoa is swordmaster Duncan Idaho, and superstar Javier Bardem is the Fremen leader Stilgar. Oh, and the emperor of the galaxy is played by acting legend Christopher Walken. The cast is ridiculous.
And somehow, they hid one big-name actor until mere weeks before the movie landed in theaters. Anya Taylor-Joy, the star of his series like The Queen's Gambit and movies like The Menu, also appears in Dune: Part Two, although her role was kept under wraps.
Now that the movie has been out for over a week, I think it's safe to talk about the details. However, go no further if you wish to avoid SPOILERS.
Anya Taylor-Joy will have a bigger role in Dune: Part Three
In the first Dune movie, Paul's mother Lady Jessica (played by Rebecca Ferguson in the movies) becomes pregnant with Paul's little sister Alia. As we saw in Dune: Part Two, because Jessica drinks the Water of Life while she's pregnant, Alia ends up...weird. She already has a full personality and intelligence while she's still in the womb, and seems to communicate with her mother telepathically.
Jessica is still pregnant by the end of the film. Alia is voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, who shows up in a brief prescient vision had by Paul. Should Denis Villeneuve succeed in getting to make Dune: Part Three, Alia will have a bigger role.
And we know that because the Dune movies are based on the Dune books by Frank Herbert. The first two movies adapt the first first Dune book, simply called Dune, published in 1965. In the book, Alia's arc is a little different. She's born about halfway through the story and is a young child by the time Paul attacks the emperor and takes his place. I guess Villeneuve didn't want to deal with the creepy murderous child aspect of her character, although David Lynch went for it when he adapted Dune as a movie in 1984:
In any case, a more grown version of Alia has a bigger role in Dune Messiah, the sequel to Dune published in 1969. Dune Messiah will form the basis for Dune: Part Three, or whatever they end up calling it, and expect Taylor-Joy to appear in a bigger capacity.
This is similar to what will happen with Florence Pugh, whose character Irulan only appeared in Dune: Part Two briefly but has a bigger role as the story goes on. "Her character is introduced in Part Two, but then if there is an adaptation ofDune Messiah, of course Princess Irulan is one of the main characters in that story," Villeneuve told Entertainment Weekly.
We don't know exactly when Dune: Part Three might come along, although it sounds like the studio wants to get a move on. Wheneve the movie comes out, it will likely continue the series' tradition of employing big-name actos. Stay tuned.
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