Who would not love Jason Momoa’s Duncan Idaho? His ultimate moments in “Dune: Half One,” spent defending his lord Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), felt just like the ushering out of a hero. Idaho’s reminiscence is cherished in “Dune: Half Two,” however he stays, nicely, useless. Then, hey presto! Every little thing modified when the primary look photos and posters for “Dune: Half Three” dropped and there was Momoa once more, brilliant and bushy-eyed (or perhaps that is not the correct phrase to make use of for his eyes, however extra on that in a minute). Now the primary trailer for director Denis Villeneuve’s third and ultimate (?) “Dune” movie has been launched, and Momoa is clearly within the highlight once more — and never simply as a flashback.
Should you’re questioning what the heck is happening, I get it. Keep in mind, we’re speaking about sci-fi right here. There aren’t any guidelines. The “Dune” universe is a spot the place Uber has been changed by sandworms and drugged people information ships by means of house. For the entire predictably human parts of creator Frank Herbert’s authentic “Dune” novels, there are many otherworldly parts, one in all which is Duncan Idaho’s semi-return because the character Hayt.
The quick and easy clarification for Momoa’s “Dune: Half Three” character is that he is not the Duncan Idaho we all know and love. Fairly, Hayt is a resurrected and weaponized iteration of the unique Idaho who exists for a completely completely different goal: assassination.
Hayt is a ghola who would not have Duncan Idaho’s reminiscences (type of)
“Dune: Half Three” will spotlight an essential race from Frank Herbert’s “Dune” books: the Bene Tleilax. This disturbing group of people is understood for his or her genetic engineering, which they use on themselves in addition to others. Most infamously, they’re recognized for creating gholas.
Herbert’s novel “Dune Messiah” (the first supply materials for “Dune: Half Three”) describes Duncan Idaho’s ghola, Hayt, as follows:
“This was a Tleilaxu ghola, a being reconstructed from the useless flesh of the unique. That authentic had perished saving Paul. This might solely be a product of the axolotl tanks.”
Gholas are designed to be clean replicas which might be largely similar to the unique host, but they’re identifiable by the truth that they’ve chilly, metallic eyes. Because of this Idaho’s ghola is given a distinct identify. He’s a distinctly completely different character from the unique Idaho.
Hayt can be not speculated to have Idaho’s authentic reminiscences. Nonetheless, when he meets Paul in “Dune Messiah,” he clarifies:
“I do know nothing of my previous for positive, my Lord. It was defined that I can haven’t any reminiscence of my former life. All that is still from earlier than is the sample set by the genes. There are, nevertheless, niches into which once-familiar issues could match. There are voices, locations, meals, faces, sounds, actions — a sword in my hand, the controls of a ‘thopter …”
So, in Herbert’s typical mix of the scientific and mythic, Hayt technically would not have the unique Idaho’s reminiscences, but they’re nonetheless there, in a way, within the “sample” of his flesh — and so they’re pushing to flood his thoughts with Idaho’s remembrances and loyalties. This creates a pressure within the plot between the ghola’s technically unknown previous and his current goal.
What’s Hayt’s position in Dune 3?
Duncan Idaho is without doubt one of the feel-good parts of “Dune: Half One.” He is enjoyable, loyal, courageous, and able to sacrifice himself. Hayt is bred to be the alternative. He’s educated as a swordsman and mentat with the first goal to assassinate Paul. In “Dune Messiah,” the character Scytale (performed by Robert Pattinson in “Dune: Half Three”) mentions that Hayt is “a multi-purpose ghola” who can be designed to distract Paul’s sister, Alia (Anya Taylor-Pleasure).
This, mixed with Hayt’s nagging reminiscences of Idaho’s loyalty, create a wild pressure within the story, which performs a key position within the third act of “Messiah.” It appears director Denis Villeneuve is able to push the character in that path, too. At a “Dune: Half Three” press occasion that /Movie participated in, Jason Momoa requested the director why he killed his character off in “Dune: Half One” and introduced him again for “Half Three.” This is how Villeneuve responded:
“[It’s] Frank Herbert’s genius. The concept is that I feel he created that large, charismatic character that our coronary heart was damaged seeing him falling within the first one, after which [we have] the need to see him again. And he comes again simply on the proper second within the story. And it is like a really, crucial comeback. Paul is struggling […] and having that type of sturdy Atreides determine getting back from the previous may have an amazing influence. That is what I’ll say. And I’ll look ahead to … I’ll say he is totally again.”
These phrases “totally again” might carry extra weight than they appear, if Hayt’s internal wrestle from “Messiah” has any bearing on the movie adaptation. However it’s a element that must wait till “Dune: Half Three” hits theaters on December 18, 2026.
