The One Change That Could Change EVERYTHING in Dune 3

0:00 So, as you guys likely know, I am incredibly excited for Dune Part 3. Villeneuve over the years has earned a lot of trust for me, with his respect for the source material and the philosophy and the themes of Frank Herbert's original Dune series. But there have been narrative changes from the books in both movies so far, and Movie 3 seems to be no exception given the trailers we've seen so far.

0:33 There will be significant differences. There have been significant differences. But there is one specific worry that I have more than any other. Now keep in mind this video will have some spoilers for the book Dune Messiah and the book Children of Dune. So if you have not read those, you might want to click away, or if you don't care about spoilers, then keep listening.

1:00 I'm not worried because he simply changes things from the books. Some of the changes have actually been great. But what I am worried about is what if Villeneuve changes the ending in a way that makes future books much harder to adapt? Because this is supposed to be the conclusion of Villeneuve's Dune trilogy.

1:25 And it's being talked about as the end of Paul Letraides' story. But there's a problem with that phrase if you're a book reader. Paul's story doesn't actually end in Dune Messiah. So the big possibility is that Paul dies at the end of Dune Part 3. Something that would bring big changes for potential future adaptations.

1:54 Let's talk about it. And throughout September, all DraftKings customers can get a profit boost every game day on select football games. Restrictions apply and the maximum transaction varies. So if you want to check it out, download the DraftKings Sports app and sign up using promo code Quin's Ideas. Again, that's promo code Quin's Ideas.

2:44 Keep football at your fingertips all season long with DraftKings Sports. The crown is yours. Now I have absolutely no confirmation of this, this is simply speculation. But I could see Villeneuve deciding that Paul needs a more definitive ending. So before we get into the meat of this, I want to read off more of what Denis Villeneuve has said that indicates that this might be the case.

3:14 In January 2022, speaking directly to Screen Daily, Villeneuve said, quote, I think Dune Messiah would be a beautiful film, and it would complete Paul Letraides' journey. Then, in March 2022, in an interview with Collider, he said that he could envision adapting Dune Messiah because it, quote, will complete Paul Letraides' story.

3:39 And that same month, Villeneuve wrote in Vanity Fair that Dune Messiah made sense as a third movie because, quote, it completes Paul Letraides' arc. And then he referred to the third movie as the final installment. Fast forward to February 2024, in an interview with the playlist, Villeneuve said, it would make sense to go back one last time and finish the arc of Paul Letraides and Shawnee.

4:03 And literally the next day, on February 29th, in an interview with Moviephone, Villeneuve described Frank Herbert's Dune as, quote, a last chapter of Paul Letraides' journey. Then in October 2024, Deadline interviewed Villeneuve while he was writing the third film. Deadline reports Villeneuve saying that the new movie, quote, will finish the Paul Letraides arc.

4:25 And now, as of 2026, we have the most final sounding language yet. At Cinemacon in April 2026, after filming Doom Part 3, Villeneuve said that it was emotional to bring the character back, quote, one last time to say farewell to Paul and Chani in the desert. So, from a filmmaking perspective, I understand this instinct.

4:50 This is Villeneuve's final Doom movie. He wants a beginning, a middle, and an end. Paul is the protagonist of this trilogy. Killing Paul gives this trilogy a definitive conclusion, but at the same time, it would be a massive change from the source material. At the end of Dune Messiah, Paul has been blinded, Chani dies, Paul essentially loses his ability to continue functioning as emperor, and he walks alone into the desert in accordance with Friman tradition.

5:28 The blind go into the desert to die. So, in an emotional sense, Paul does kind of die at the end of Dune Messiah, because politically Muadib is gone, but Frank Herbert, I think, very deliberately does not actually kill him. And that particular distinction is incredibly important later in the series. So, Messiah is the end of Paul's rule, and then the book Children of Dune shows the actual end of Paul himself.

6:06 So if Villeneuve collapses those two things together, you really, really alter Children of Dune. And whoever adapts Children of Dune is gonna have to contend with a lot of things. So, years later in the book Children of Dune, a mysterious blind man appears. He's known as the preacher. He travels around criticizing the religion built around Muadib.

6:31 He condemns what Paul's empire has become, he condemns the corruption of the Atreides government, he attacks the mythology that has developed around Paul himself. And eventually the preacher is, of course, revealed to be Paul himself. This is one of the most beautifully ironic things that Frank Herbert does in the Dune series, because Paul becomes the Messiah, the religion forms around him, billions die in his name, his followers turn him into something divine, and then years later Paul himself comes back to start preaching against himself.

7:04 That's kind of incredible. But what's even more incredible is that it doesn't really matter because the mythology has become bigger than the person. That's the point. Paul no longer controls Muadib. Mu'adib is an idea at this point. The physical person who was Paul Atreides doesn't really matter at this point, and this is perfectly in line with Frank Herbert's warning about charismatic leaders.

7:32 So if Paul dies in Doom Part 3, you lose that. You could potentially create another character that represents the preacher in Doom Part 4. You could give all those ideas to someone else, but it wouldn't be the same because the entire point is that the Messiah himself returns to denounce the religion built around him.

7:52 That irony only really works well with Paul. Then there's Leto II, Paul's son, in Children of Dune. This is a huge problem. Paul's survival matters hugely for Leto's development. In Children of Dune, Paul and Leto eventually confront each other. And I've talked about this scene several times on this channel.

8:17 And in these conversations, we learned something very important. Paul also saw the Golden Path. He knew where humanity might have to go, but Paul could not bring himself to do what would be required. Leto can do that. And that's very, very important. Because Leto and Paul have the same have a different reaction to the same problem.

8:43 Paul sees the future, sees the horror, tries to avoid the worst outcomes, and eventually reaches a point where he can go no further. Leto sees what Paul saw, accepts the horrific consequences, but goes further than Paul ever could. And he becomes something Paul was simply unwilling to become. So, without Paul being there, it makes it more difficult to understand what Leto II is doing.

9:12 And beyond that, the character, the preacher appearing, has thematic purpose in Children of Dune. He represents the failure of Mu'adib and the regret of Mu'adib and the consequences of prescience. He represents the corruption of religion, the consequences of charismatic leadership. This is Frank Herbert rubbing it in our faces.

9:37 Leto II is about what is coming next, and that is why I'm worried as a book fan. Because Villeneuve, even though there's this enormous potential for more movies, more shows, Villeneuve only has to worry about his trilogy. And that is completely understandable. His trilogy should be first and foremost to him.

10:00 But Dune may still continue after him. Someone may eventually adapt Children of Dune. And maybe they'll go all the way to God Emperor of Dune, here's hoping. And if Vilnev makes huge continuity decisions simply because he wants his trilogy to have a definitive ending, then the next filmmaker has to inherit that decision.

10:24 So they don't get to adapt Children of Dune normally anymore. They have to write around it. Maybe they create another preacher character that's not Paul. Maybe the scene between Paul and Leto occur within other memory, with an ancestral memory. But it still fundamentally alters the feeling of it. Now, Villeneuve has already changed a lot, and like I said, that doesn't bother me automatically.

10:50 Things can change between mediums, but there are changes that only affect one scene, and then there are changes that alter the architecture of everything that comes afterward. And killing Paul is a load-bearing change. It would affect the potential entire trajectory of God Emperor of Dune, the Golden Path, it would affect Aliyah, it would affect uh the legacy of Muadib, the theme all the themes of Children of Doom.

11:18 So that's why I'm nervous. The best possible ending, in my opinion, is that Vilneuve doesn't actually need to kill Paul. The book ending already gives him exactly what he needs. Paul can lose Chani, lose his throne, and walk into the desert and disappear. And for people that never watch another movie, Paul is effectively dead.

11:37 His story is effectively finished here if this is done correctly, and Vilneuve gets to end his trilogy. But the door still remains open if someone eventually adapts Children of Dune. The preacher still can return. And I think that is the perfect compromise. Not really a compromise, just adapt it closer to the book so that we don't have major problems later on with these adaptations.

12:02 But then again, also there's an entire other possibility as well. We already know this isn't necessarily going to be a completely literal adaptation of Messiah. So Vilnev could take certain ideas from Children of Dune and move them into this movie, and we already know that that is kind of happening based off of various things.

12:23 If he somehow gives Paul a version of his later reckoning now, then maybe killing him would work differently in the story. But then again, that would require some massive restructuring, and I'm pretty curious about what that would look like. Now, I just want to emphasize that I'm not saying that Paul definitely dies, I'm saying that the way everyone talks about this as the definitive end of the Paul Atreides trilogy makes me wonder how definitive they mean.

12:56 That being said, I have a lot of trust and faith in Villeneuve and his filmmaking skills. No matter how he decides to end his version of Dune, I am excited to see it, because at the end of the day, it is art and it is a new thing, as well as being an adaptation of this classic book and this classic story.

13:22 Thank you guys so much for watching. Make sure you like and subscribe for more science fiction literature videos.