Florence Pugh and Jason Momoa are us. At a recent event for the release of the Dune: Part Three trailer, the actors appeared via video to ask two very important questions about the film. Neither was answered in a truly satisfactory manner, so we’ll do that for you right now.
Let’s start with Pugh. At the end of Dune: Part Two, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) offers to marry the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Irulan (Pugh), in a sign of good faith as he takes over the throne. It’s a move that does not make Paul’s significant other, Chani (Zendaya), happy, and the film ends with her riding away, angry as hell.
“I’ve got a question for Zendaya,” Pugh said via video at the event. “So at the end of the last movie, you ran away. I got Paul. Where are you now? Are you still mad at me? Do you kind of like me? What do you like? I just want to know all of those.”
Fantastic question, Ms. Pugh. Here’s what Zendaya said. “I want to start by saying I love Florence Pugh,” she said. “So talented, so wonderful in this role. And we said the last time, on the press tour, we only got one scene together, and we were far away. And I was like, ‘I hope we get more.’ So I don’t want to tease anything, but she’s absolutely phenomenal. And you guys will just have to see for yourselves what happens because it’s quite the journey.”
That’s not an answer, Zendaya! Well, from the trailer, it’s pretty clear that Paul and Chani have reconciled in some way. And, as revealed by Frank Herbert’s Dune: Messiah, Paul is still married to Irulan, but it’s just a title thing. His real love and mother of his children is Chani. But that doesn’t make Irulan too happy. Did you see her in that character poster? She goes through it.
Next up is Jason Momoa. Momoa’s character, Duncan Idaho, died valiantly protecting House Atreides in Dune: Part One and doesn’t appear in Part Two. But there he is in the trailer, fighting and looking all dapper. Here’s Momoa.
“I’m back. Yeah! Finally!” Momoa said via video at the event. “Listen, I loved Dune Two. It was amazing. I mean, but there was one thing missing, obviously, one key ingredient. So my question to you, Denis, is why did you kill me off in the first one? And why am I back now? I love you because you miss me.”
It’s a question many, many fans certainly had after the trailer. Here’s Villeneuve’s response.
“Good question,” Villeneuve said. “He created that tremendous charismatic character that our heart was broken, seeing him falling in the first one. And then the desire to see him back. And he comes back just at the right moment in the story. And it’s a very, very important comeback. Paul is struggling with his identity and having that kind of strong Atreides figure coming back from the past will have a tremendous impact. I will say that he’s fully back.”
Again, that’s not an answer, Denis! The real answer is a bit more complicated. Momoa is back, but he’s not Duncan Idaho, the best friend and trainer of Paul Atreides. He’s Hayt, a “ghoula” (sort of like a clone) of Duncan that was originally made as an assassin to get close to and kill Paul but ends up reacquiring Duncan’s memories and falls back in with Paul and his team. That is, of course, if Villeneuve sticks with the plot from the original book.
And yes, the event and stars handled these pieces of information with tact because each is certainly an important plot point in the film. But, as Chalamet himself said a few years back, “It’s so weird, because [the studios] are so secretive about the script, and about the trailer… well, [the books] have been out there for 70 years!”
Dune: Part Three is in theaters on December 18.
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Source: Gizmodo