Warning: There are SPOILERS for all things Dune below.
Dune: Part Two, director Denis Villenueve's atmospheric adaptaton of Frank Herbert's classic 1965 sci-fi novel, is currently tearing it up at the box office. Fans are fascinated by the large cast of characters populating this sci-fi universe. There's Timothée Chalamet as desert messiah Paul Atredies, Zendaya as his Fremen partner Chani, Austin Butler as the brutal Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and more.
The first Dune movie was full of interesting characters too, although not all of them survived to appear in Part Two. That list includes Duncan Idaho, a rough-and-tumble swordmaster played by Game of Thrones veteran Jason Momoa. Although the fact that Momoa isn't in Part Two hasn't stopped him from seeing and loving the movie at the theater. "I think it's one of those things you really have to see two, three times," the actor told Men's Health. "I'm going to go see it again. There are so many things you miss. There are so many things going on. But you should definitely check out the books, man, because a lot of stuff is going to go down."
There may be a secondary reason why Momoa is so interested in seeing Dune: Part Two. (This is your last chance to avoid spoilers.) You see, even though Duncan Idaho dies in the first movie defending Paul Atreides from Harkonnen and Sardaukar soldiers, he comes back in Frank Herbert's 1969 sequel to Dune, called Dune Messiah. Villeneuve has said multiple times that he wants to turn Dune Messiah into a movie, and when that happens, I'd be surprised if Momoa wasn't in it.
How does a dead character come back to life, you may ask? In the books, a group of genetically altered humans called the Tleilaxu make a clone of Duncan Idaho — called a "ghola" — and present him to Paul Atreides, now the emperor of the galaxy, as a gift, figuring that Paul will want to spend time with his old friend. The Tleilaxu have an ulterior motive, of course; they've altered the ghola of Duncan Idaho to serve their own ends, something Paul knows. Even beyond Dune Messiah, gholas of Duncan Idaho appear in many future Dune books, so if this turns into a long-running movie franchise Momoa could have work locked down for years.
So that's a prediction of the shape of things to come. But does Momoa already know he's coming back for Dune: Part Three? The movie isn't officially announced, but given how often Villeneuve has talked about it and how successful Part Two has been, it seems inevitable. Momoa did his best not to give anything away. "It'll be a good future now if Duncan Idaho may have some sort of ... You know what we did have? Oh man, I can't actually say this. I'll get in trouble. F**k," he told Men's Health.
"Well, there was something that was really cool that went into the movie that didn't make the first one, and it was pretty epic...I'll try to get it back. I'll try to get it back in the third one."
It sounds like Dune: Part One may have originally contained some hint about Duncan Idaho's return. Villeneuve isn't a fan of deleted scenes so we'll probably never see it, but I wouldn't be remotely surprised if Villenueve and Momoa had already begun planning for Duncan's future in the series. Villeneuve has said he already promised Florence Pugh, who shows up briefly in Dune: Part Two as Princess Irulan, a bigger role in Dune: Part Three, which is consistent with what happens with the character in Dune Messiah. My bet is he's had a similar conversation with Momoa.
Jason Momoa admits there are "definitely cooler names" than Duncan Idaho
Duncan Idaho is a pretty cool character, but as many fans have pointed out, he kind of got the short end of the stick when they were handing out names. Leto Atreides, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen...Duncan Idaho. Sounds a bit like a dud.
"There are definitely cooler names," Momoa acknowledged. "I love Duncan Idaho, but it's not the coolest. There are some pretty cool names, characters I've played, man. Khal Drogo is a pretty cool name. Even Ronon Dex was a pretty cool name. There's Declan Harp , that was pretty cool. I have a couple in the future that are going to be pretty cool."
Funny name or not, the character is great and the movies are going places. Dune: Part Two is in theaters now. As for Dune: Part Three, you'll know more the second we do.
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