The first two Dune movies directed by Denis Villenueve covered the events of Dune, Frank Herbert's seminal 1965 sci-fi novel. That book ends with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) becoming emperor of the known universe. Dune: Part Three will move onto Herbert's 1969 book Dune Messiah, which picks up with Paul several years into his reign.
At this point we're going to get into SPOILERS, so be warned. Dune Messiah ends with the birth of Paul's twin children Leto II (named after Paul's late father) and Ghanima. They're only infants by the end of the book, but in 1976's Children of Dune, we pick up with Leto II and Ghanima as 9-year-olds.
That's why it was surprising to learn that Dune: Part Three had cast teenaged actors Nakoa-Wolf Momoa and Ida Brooke as Leto II and Ghanima. Apparently, they will somehow appear in Dune: Part Three, although we're not sure how. Maybe the movie will end with a jump into the future to show them more grown up? Maybe we'll see them in a vision? That's how Paul saw a grown-up version of his sister Alia (Anya Taylor-Joy) in Dune: Part Two, even though she was in utero at the time. In the Dune, a lot of things are possible.
But if Warner Bros. Discovery is going to the trouble of casting Leto II and Ghanima, it may well be laying the groundwork for a movie adaptation of Children of Dune down the line. That means they want to continue making Dune movies even after Denis Villenueve leaves; he's said that he's out after Part Three.
And that's not a giant shock. The first two Dune movies were hits for WBD, the third movie will probably be a hit, and Children of Dune is a really good book I think a lot of people would enjoy seeing adapted to the big screen, whether or nor Villenueve is involved. Leto II and Ghanima basically take over the role of protagonist from Paul Atreides, which could give the franchise a new lease on life, led by younger stars. And Children of Dune is a thick book I can imagine WBD wanted to split into two movies, much in the way they did with the original Dune.
My question is: how far are they willing to go? Leto II and Ghanima are only kids in Children of Dune; after that, the book series goes in some unexpected directions. The fourth book, 1981's God Emperor of Dune, picks up thousands of years after Children of Dune. Ghanima is long dead, but Leto II has been transformed into — wait for it — an enormous human-sandworm hybrid that rules the galaxy with an iron fist. Could Nakoa-Wolf Momoa play a young Leto II in Dune: Part Three, continue that into a Children of Dune adaptation, and then play the thousands-year-old man-worm tyrant? That kid could be very busy over the next several years!
Nakoa-Wolf Momoa is the son of actor Jason Momoa, who played House Atreides swordmaster Duncan in the first Dune movie. Momoa will return as Duncan in Dune: Part Three, even though his character died in the first movie. Without getting into all the weird details, Duncan is brought back as a kind of clone called a ghola, a gift to Emperor Paul Atreides. And in God Emperor of Dune, different Duncan gholas are brought back over the course of millennia on the order of Leto II. So we coud be looking at a movie or movies where Jason Momoa is acting alongside his son, who plays a towering worm-man god-king. Again I ask: how far are they willing to go?
Frank Herbert wrote two more Dune novels after God Emperor of Dune. After Herbert died, his son has continued to write books in this universe to this day. There are a lot of characters between all those books, but Leto II remains one of the central figures, arguably only second to Paul Atreides himself.
Personally, I'd be excited if Warner Bros. got deep enough into the Dune story to start adapting some of the weirder, wilder elements to the screen, and it doesn't get much weirder and wilder than Jason Momoa's son playing a giant worm-man in a relationship with a human woman; yes, that happens. I don't know if Nakoa-Wolf Momoa getting cast as Leto II actually means we're going to get all of this, but it's the first step down that path. In the meantime, Dune: Part Three is due out in theaters next year.
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