Furthermore, one major bone of contention many readers have had since the first sequel novel Dune Messiah came out in 1969 is that when that book catches up to Paul Atreides 12 years after he and the Fremen’s victory in Dune, he has changed. He’s no longer a hero; he’s a dictator whose fanatical armies have slaughtered 61 billion people across the universe. This aspect is upsetting for many of those who perceived Paul as a noble leader, yet it is central to Herbert’s ultimate theme. Paul’s “terrible purpose” is something Villeneuve certainly leans into for Dune: Part Two, and plans to continue the trend in Dune Messiah… whether it is commercial or not. 

“I think you cannot avoid Paul’s terrible purpose, that’s the structure of this whole enterprise,” said Villeneuve of the overall trajectory of the character. “Saying this, I do not like to comment on Dune Messiah because I’m writing it, and when I’m writing, I love to shut up because it’s a very delicate time where things are fragile, ideas evolve. I like to talk about movies when they are alive, finished, and strong enough to walk by themselves. Dune Messiah is barely an embryo.”

Despite being tight-lipped about that particular “embryo,” the filmmaker was able to elaborate on the fact that Warner Bros. and Legendary are 100 percent behind his envisioning the Dune trilogy as an epic tragedy. There are no plans to go soft or tread lightly around Paul’s ultimate heel turn in Messiah.

“Everybody was on board with my vision,” Villeneuve confirmed. “If you’re a Dune expert, you probably know that Frank Herbert was destabilized by the way the audience perceived Paul when they read Dune, and he was disappointed that people thought he was a heroic figure. He wanted to create the opposite, so he wrote Dune Messiah in order to correct this perception of Paul, to make sure that people will understand that Frank Herbert’s will was to make Dune a warning against charismatic figures, religious figures, and the savior coming out of a colonizer.

“Having that perspective in mind, it was for me easier to write this adaptation to be closer to Frank Herbert’s initial idea, which is that Paul Atreides is not a hero. Paul Atreides is a tragic figure that becomes negative at the end. It’s something that was at the epicenter of my preoccupation when I wrote this adaptation.”

Danofgeek