As “Dune: Part Two” looks to potentially double the global box office grosses of the original installment in the coming weeks (it currently sits at $628.8 million), fans of the franchise were a little surprised a few characters were missing in the sequel. One of those characters was Stephen McKinley Henderson‘s Thufir Hawat, a loyal member of House Atreides, prominently featured in the first film. However, while speaking to Entertainment Weekly while promoting “Civil War” this week, the actor said that he has “no regrets” that his character’s scenes were cut from the film.
“I shot stuff for them and had a great time with Denis [Villeneuve] and Austin Butler,” Henderson told EW, alluding to his character being a hostage of the evil House Harkonnen in those excised scenes. “I got to have a nice lunch with Christopher Walken. It was a great thing to be a part of, and I understand it comes with the territory. Denis had to do the film that he had to do. So, I just love being a part of it. No regrets.”
With the “painful choice” to cut those scenes, the fate of Thufir (the loyal House Atreiedes confidant and human-computer) remains uncertain. However, his absence could potentially pave the way for director Denis Villeneuve (who initially stated those scenes wouldn’t be resurrected) to reintroduce the character in his third installment, an adaptation of the second Frank Herbert novel, ‘Dune Messiah.’ The return of the Menstat strategist and Master of Assassins for Paul’s massive galactic war against the other Houses in ‘Dune 3’ would add an intriguing twist to the narrative, keeping everyone on their toes as Paul seeks to dominate using his newly cemented desert power.
Herbert’s main narrative in his “Dune” novels was how charismatic leaders abuse their powers and rely heavily on believers who thrive on blind faith rather than using their agency and free will. This narrative idea has already been highlighted in the movies; “Dune: Part Two,” teasing a full-scale “holy war” in Paul’s visions and, specifically, a galaxy-wide famine killing billions.
Villeneuve has stated he won’t be directing any more installments after “Messiah,” as the novels get increasingly weirder, and it would be a challenge to make them accessible to global audiences. “‘Dune Messiah’ should be the last ‘Dune’ movie for me,” the filmmaker told Time Magazine about ending his run after three installments in January.
The future beyond “Dune Messiah” is not yet clear. Yet, there is a wealth of expanded universe source material beyond the original six novels from Herbert that could be explored, similar to the way “The Sisterhood” book inspired the upcoming Max original series, “Dune: Prophecy.”