Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part 2 is only a month away from hitting theatres worldwide, and
while I will be doing plenty of videos breaking down the film when it releases, leading up to
its launch I wanted to discuss the potential ending or direction of the final scene, that the
director could adapt. Having read Frank Herbert's book, I'm excited to see how Denis will
complete his vision for that material and how he will aim to setup what's to come in a potential
Dune Messiah film. So in this video, I'm going to be discussing that ending scene in the
Dune book and how Dune Part 2 as a film might present that final moment to us. This essay
continues my Road To Dune series, where over the next month I will continue posting video essays
and topical uploads based on the new Dune movies, the novel and Denis Villeneuve's previous work.
If you haven't read Frank Herbert's Dune or Dune Messiah yet, there will be some big
spoilers from both of those books in this video, so I'd recommend watching some of my other content
if you don't want to know too much. Before I get into it though, if you want to keep up
to date on any of my videos surrounding Dune Part 2 and beyond, then don't forget
to support this upload by giving it a like rating, subscribing to the channel and turning on your
notifications. But without further a do, lets discuss
the potential ending scene of Dune Part 2. So in the first Dune film, Paul Atreides saw
mixed visions of the future, and a few of them teased the billions of deaths committed in his
name. While we do see hints towards Paul and the Fremen getting their revenge on the
Harkonnens, the jihad that Paul is so worried about coming true,
ends up happening between the events of Dune and Dune Messiah. And in the 12 years
between those two Frank Herbert books, the political changes feel fitting for what takes
place and it's well established for the reader. Denis Villeneuve has said many times that his
intention is to make a third Dune film based on Messiah, and with recent rumours being that
it's already greenlit, I think the ending of Dune Part 2 would make Paul’s terrible purpose clear.
This would mean a slightly different ending then read on the page, but one that intinsicly
links the gap between both films. When we get to Messiah, Paul would have unleashed a terrible
war that has conquered the universe and took 61 billion people with it. It portrays him as the
kind of tyrant he sort to defeat at the end of the first book. Now like the novels, Messiah
might take place without the holy war being shown onscreen and we may just
focus on the ramifications of it when we eventually get to that third film.
But I personally think that Dune Part 2 will need to set up that war by showing us
Paul's visions of it, for us to really buy the aftermath of it in the next film. Before I come
to my prediction for the ending scene and the reasons that point towards Denis Villeneuve
creating his ending along these particular lines, how does the final scene play out in the book?
Well, after the emperor and his troops realise they are no match for the Fremen, Alia Atreides
kills Baron Harkonnen and Paul is victorious in a brutal knife fight with the Baron's nephew
Feyd Rautha. The book leaves us on Paul asking the Emperor to step down and after requesting to
marry his daughter, the Princess Irulan, he can become the new emperor. The emperor reluctantly
agrees and Paul becomes the new emperor of Arrakis. The final pages end on the feelings
of Chani and Lady Jessica, with the former hurt to see her partner marry someone else. Paul promises
her that she will be his true lover, but Chani doubts this to be true. This brings us
to the ending thoughts of Lady Jessica, a royal concubine who is now a Reverend Mother, and she
comments on her son's marraige. She says to Chani, “Do you know so little of my son? See
that princess standing there, they say she has pretensions of a literary nature. Let us hope she
finds solace in such things, she’ll have little else. Think on it, Chani. That princess will have
the name, yet she’ll live as less than a concubine,
never to know a moment of tenderness from the man to whom she’s bound. While we, Chani,
we who carry the name of concubine, history will call us wives.” And so Frank Herbert’s novel ends,
not with some profound words from Paul, but with a message of power among the women of his
Dune world. Villeneuve has said leading up to Part 2 that Chani will become a big viewpoint of his
new film, and particularly one that the audience peers through as they watch the transition
of Paul Atreides. Paul is still the main character and a question of that is not what the director
was getting at. Rather, it's the way we see that main character through the eyes of his
lover and what she feels towards it. In that point, when we get to the final scene,
that conversation between Lady Jessica and Chani will be so much more effective. But while I see
this being a big character and story dynamic in that final scene, I think there will be another
dimension added to it, and the director's recent interview may suggest that too.
In particular, I think there will be a greater focus on the big message of the Dune story by
making one alteration to the ending. Villeneuve said in Total Film, an interview I covered in my
last upload, that the sequel ends on a more "heartbreaking" note than the novel,
setting up what's to come in a potential third installment. He said, "All of the elements are
there. But I think the movie adaptation is more tragic than the book. The way that Part Two ends…
it would create a total balance and equilibrium to finish Paul’s storyline in what we could
say is Part Three." So with Part Two showing us more of Paul’s visions, it would also show them
come true as well, as in the 12 years between Part 2 and Messiah, the bloody war that he
envisioned does take place. So essentially, if Dune Part 2 foreshadows Messiah with detailed
plot points, Villeneuve and his creative team can actually enhance the material by making Paul’s
prescience more comprehensible. In turn, that central message which
Herbert was trying to fully communicate with his second book, one of charasmatic
leaders being fuel for much bloodshed, would come to the spotlight. So my prediction
for the final scene is that yes, while Paul will take the throne and characters like Jessica and
Chani will end on a familiar note to the book, that the scene will primarily end on
Paul's haunting vision about to come true. I think we'll cut to images of death in his name
during that bloody Jihad in the future, and I think we'll also end on his reaction to it too.
A reaction of horror, but also a reaction of acceptance. It's the path he's choosen and the
path that is about to come true. We've seen teases of it in his visions already and we'll
definitely get more in part 2. But come the ending scene, I think it will be clear to us and paul
that this war and the billions of deaths that come with is now a definitive path. I think an
ending like this would tap into the more devastating ending that Villeneuve speaks
about and it would really connect Part 2 and Messiah or the years in between them. The first
film ended on Paul being accepted into the fremen culture, and I think an ending like this for Part
2 will aim to show the bloodshed at the hands of Paul and the Fremen. Think of
it as a kind of weird comparison to the ending of Oppenheimer last year
where at the end of that film, Cillian's character envisioned the devastating
power of the weapon he created. For Paul in Dune Part 2, those ending visions could showcase the
devastating power of his fremen army now that they well and truly believe that he is the
Kwisatz Haderack. I think it would be powerful to end on a note like this, somewhat different,
but also truly fitting for what Dune Messiah is about to explore. By the end of Dune we wonder
how the Fremen’s culture will change and whether they will have easier lives or follow their
prophet into space. Paul's victory in part 2 is one that comes at a great cost, as yes many are
killed in the battle, but also the Fremen is forever changed by it too. It's all about Paul
dealing with the consequences of his victory and his personal desires for revenge. But beyond it,
he struggles to maintain his power. The Fremen culture begins to spread throughout
the universe and it all leads to new conflict. So now that I've given my thoughts on how Denis
might approach the ending of Dune, both from a scene perspective and from a thematic context,
what does it mean for Dune Messiah. Well as I said above, the ending that I've predicted
is one that would link into Messiah quite well, because that film deals with all the consequences
of it. In particular, Messiah is where the aftermath of Paul’s actions are truly explored.
While Dune 2 can give us all the revelations surrounding the things set up, Dune Messiah shows
how Paul gets disillusioned by his power. Despite achieving true prescience,
Paul is powerless to stop the Fremen from killing the billions in his name
and it affects him deeply. Paul is caught between acting as the Fremen holy man
and establishing his rule as the emperor of the known universe. The opposition he faces doesn’t
just come from those outside of Arrakis, but problems develop among his own people. While in
Part 2, Paul leads the Fremen to their revenge, it gets to a point in Messiah where he becomes
quite isolated. Herbert's point of charismatic leaders making decisions that lead to death and
destruction, is only truly delivered on in Messiah,
and by setting this up in an explicit way like by seeing the bloody war in his ending vision,
it will give us more reason to wait a bit longer for that third film. Villeneuve recently
revealed that the script for the third movie is "almost finished", but that he's going to be
working on a few other projects first, like with his revealed Cleopatra movie and his adaptation of
Rendevous With Rama. He's also got to wait for the actors to age up because of that big time
jump between the 2 novels. So there will be a good wait until we can see how he adapts Messiah.
But as I've talked about, leading up to that 3rd film, the ending for Part 2 can give us all the
destructive motifs to chew on, and I think it will do that through Paul's
dark vision of the upcoming war. But they were my thoughts on the potential
ending scene of Dune Part 2. Of course, Denis might take a different direction come the end of
the new movie, and he has also spoken recently about making changes that feel neccessary when
adapting Herbert's book for the big screen. When adapting a book, yes you have to keep everything
that's important to the soul or storytelling of a particular piece, but visually and
structurally it can be better to change certain scenes in particular ways,
as you're adapting something for a completely different medium. As I
described above, I don't think that the Dune Part 2 ending will remove anything we know from the
final moments of the book, but instead, I think it will add to it, showing Paul's visions of
that bloody war that's ahead. It will only help to challenge the audiences perception of Paul
as a messiah, and that's exactly what Herbert wanted his first two books to communicate. I
think this idea of violent visions of the future can only build out that message and I think it
connects to what Denis recently said about the ending being more heartbreaking, with a vision
of that upcoming war, that is now unstoppable. But that's just my prediction for it and I'm
interested to hear what you guys think towards how the director might have adapted this ending
scene. So let me know down below in the comments section.
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I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.