The first trailer for Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part 2 was released the other week, and after
making multiple breakdowns on certain things we saw in the trailer, I've been getting a
re-occuring question from fans of the material.
And that question is, will we see The Emperor or Alia Atreides in any of the upcoming marketing.
I've had this question a lot over the last few months, and I do have some thoughts
surrounding whether we will see them and what particular footage we could get if we do.
In this video, I'm going to be discussing just that
and talking a bit more about their characters in the film.
There will be spoilers from the book in this breakdown, so if you haven't read Frank Herbert's
novel yet or you don't want to know some of the details from the back part
of the story, then I'd recommend watching this at a later time.
Before I get into it though, if you want to keep up to date on any of my
content surrounding Dune Part 2 and beyond, then don't forget to support this upload by
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But without further a do, lets dive into whether
we'll get any footage of The Emperor or Alia in the marketing for Dune Part 2.
So the two bigger characters that we are yet to see in any footage, posters or marketing
for Dune Part 2, is of course the Emperor and Paul's sister Alia Atreides.
There's suspicion surrounding whether will see anything of these
characters, because at a similar point in the marketing for Dune Part One, we had pretty
good looks at every character in the teaser and even character posters for almost every
big figure involved.
We've seen some of the other new characters apart of part 2 already, whether that be Austin
Butler's Feyd Rautha, the secretive Margot Fenring played by Lea Seadoux
or the emperor's daughter Princess Irulan, played by Florence Pugh.
So what does that mean for the rest of marketing when it comes to both
the Emperor and Alia Atreides.
Well starting with Christopher Walken's Emperor, I do believe that we will see this character
pop up in future trailers or footage.
We've already had the big casting of Christopher Walken and we've already seen quite a bit
of his daughter in the first trailer that was released the other week.
Of course, Shaddam Corrino IV is highly important in the early events
that kicked off this story of revenge and fury on the planet of Arrakis.
The emperor's fall from power ultimately takes place by his own hand, after feeling intimidated
by his adoptive cousin in Duke Leto Atreides.
Leto had become the charismatic leader in the Landsraad that those looked up to and
he built an army that was strong enough to compete with the
fearless Sardaukar, who attacked and murdered a lot of the atreides in Part 1.
We do learn in the books however that the Emperor did admire Leto at one point and saw
him as a potential choice of succession that his daughter could
have married, because he had no male heirs.
That soon changed and it led to the slaughter of the Atreides with the combined threat of
the Sardaukar and Harkonnen forces, and the emperor
believed that his cousin's house had all but ended after that intial attack.
We see a lot of this contemplated by Princess Irulan in the
first official trailer, when she says "what if Paul Atreides is still alive", and I wouldn't
be too surprised if these scenes are taking place on Planet Kaitain, which is the Emperor's
home.
We've seen behind the scenes looks at the lavish palace that appears to be where these
Irulan scenes are taking place, and I think its only a matter of time before we see the
conversations or a moment between both her and her father.
But yeah with the Emperor being already played by such a well known actor and the early trailers
giving us a bit of footage from Planet Kaitain, I do think that the next
trailer or footage we see will give us a look at Christopher Walken's character.
With the first Dune, they made a big impression on viewers
with looks at all the extended talent on display across the marketing, and I think it would
be a missed opportunity to not show at least 1 or 2 frames of the emperor before the release
of the film this november.
Maybe, we'll also get a poster in the style of those Part 1 character posters, to once
again, highlight just how much talent is in this film.
When it comes to what we could see of him, like I was suggesting
I think they'll focus on the early moments between both him and his daughter back on
their home planet, and maybe we'll get a further look
at his costume, which I'm guessing will fit in line with the regal and expensive looking
designs that Florence Pugh's character was seen wearing in that first footage.
Denis Villeneuve has made it clear that he's keeping each house
and characters within that faction similar to the looks of other characters within the
same house, whether that be the pale and bald appearance of many Harkonenes or what we'd
again imagine is the more regal appearance with the Emperor and his daughter.
I'm really excited to see what Walken's Emperor is going to look
like and I definitely think that his appearance is gonna be driven by the richness and importance
of his position, and reflect that continuity that we've seen with other houses so far.
So now that we've talked about the Emperor, what could I see being done about Alia Atreides.
This is probabaly where more of the question lies surrounding a character, maybe not being
shown in any early marketing.
Now in Part 1, we did see a glimpse of Alia soon after she was born in one of Paul's many
visions, and the character is of course super important to
what happens both at the end of the first book and even more so later on.
Alia Atreides is the younger sister of Paul, and after him and his mother Lady Jessica
join with the Fremen, the tribe wants Jessica to become
their new Reverend Mother and in turn, have the full potential of the Bene gesserit's
abilities.
During one of the most famous sequences from the book, which is that water of life moment,
Jessica goes through a spice ritual and she is given the ancestral memories of the redverand
mothers that came before.
But while Jessica has this experience, so does her unborn child,
Alia, who becomes conscious of everything, even though she hasn't been born yet.
Once born, we soon learn that Alia can speak and even act
like an adult in a child's body and of course a lot of those around her, whether its the
fremen or Bene Gesserit, feel very strange towards the situation.
We learn that Alia is a major element when it comes to Paul's revenge against
the Harkonnens, outsmarting people way older and wielding a crysknife against those we
wouldn't expect.
She becomes known as “St. Alia of the Knife” and trying to imagine how a lot
of this is going to look onscreen is going to be a hell of a task for direcotr Denis
Villeneuve.
I have done a whole video talking about adapting this character and while I think
Denis can do it, for me, its definitely going to be one of the most difficult new characters
to visualise and fit into this more grounded take
on the material.
When it comes to seeing footage of her in the marketing, as a reverse to the Emperor,
I don't think that they are going to show too much of this character in the months
prior to the film.
We haven't had a casting yet and there's all this element of mystery that the first film
sets up surrounding her character.
Of course, us who have read the book know what happens, but for those new to Dune, I
think they might want to keep this as a big surprise for that second film.
We might get a brief shot from behind the character weilding a
crystknife or something along the lines of that in the sense of a very small tease, but
I think with the weirder aspects regarding how she speaks, her visual appearance and
who plays her, I think they are going to leave that
for the film itself.
To me this is one aspect of part 2 that even book readers have no idea towards surrounding
the adaptation that Denis is going to bring with the character.
So keeping that as a surprise and something that can be highly effective in the film if
it is done really well, seems like an appropriate way to go.
For all we know this could be completely wrong and in the next trailer they might show multiple
shots of the character, but right now, with no casting, no looks at her and a sense that
Alia could be a great surprise onscreen, it makes me think that she won't be shown in
the upcoming trailers and footage.
But that was my video discussing The Emperor and Alia being showin in Dune Part 2's marketing.
It's going to be interesting to see how Denis Villeneuve adapts both of these characters
for the upcoming film, and they are definitely two big figures that I've been looking forward
to seeing the most.
Casting someone like a Christopher Walken is a big move from the
filmmaker and his team and it'll be even more intriguing to see who plays Alia when we eventually
do see the film.
Like I said, I think we will get footage of Christopher Walken as The
Emperor in later trailers, but with Alia, I wouldn't be surprised if they kept that
for later.
Still the early looks at the film look incredible and I can only expect that in the months
to come, we will see more from crucial scenes like the water of life, action shots from
that final battle in Arrakeen and more visuals of new characters.
But let me know down below in the comments section whether you think we'll
see any footage of the Emperor or Alia in the later marketing and what do you think
the approach will be towards these upcoming character
reveals.
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