Dune: Characters From The Books Missing From The Movies

Highlights

Alia Atreides appears only briefly in Dune: Part Two , playing a minor role due to her unborn status.
Count Hasimir Fenring, a close friend of Emperor Shaddam IV, had scenes cut from the film.
Characters such as Esmar Tuek, Staban Tuek, and Harah were forgotten in the new Dune films, missing key roles.

With the release of Dune: Part Two, fans and critics are raving about the film and its cinematic work of Frank Herbert's classic novel. Yet, despite fan adoration for how Dune proves itself to be an amazing adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel, there are still some aspects, and characters, missing from the movie.

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In a book as grand and sweeping as Dune, there are a huge number of characters. Despite the incredible cast of actors assembled in Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two by Denis Villeneuve, there are still some characters from the book who didn’t make the cut in the films, or had their parts reduced, so drastically they barely appeared at all.

6 Alia Atreides

Paul's Sister Who Remains Unborn In The Films

Jessica & Alia Atreides In Dune Part Two

Sister Of Paul Atreides
Played Very Briefly By Anya Taylor-Joy In Dune: Part Two

It is a minor lie to say that Alia Atreides doesn’t appear in Dune: Part Two. Jessica has been pregnant with her daughter for the entirety of the two films, but she still hadn’t given birth by the time that Paul Atreides was declared Emperor after deposing Shaddam IV. She appears in utero and in a very brief vision of the future that Paul has, but her part is drastically cut down to almost nothing up to this point in the story.

In the Dune book, Alia is born and grows at an alarming rate, with the pre-born mind of an adult but the body of a toddler, by the time Paul becomes Emperor. She was even the one to kill Baron Harkonnen during the climactic battle, a role that Paul takes on in Dune: Part Two, since she still hasn’t been born. It is likely that Denis Villeneuve wanted to squash the long timeline of events from the book together, or maybe wasn’t sure how to introduce the intelligent toddler without it looking incredibly strange. Since Dune: Messiah takes place twelve years after the first book, there may not be a need to show Alia as a toddler.

5 Count Hasimir Fenring

A Renowned Assassin Mentat, Cut From The Final Film

Friend Of Emperor Shaddam IV
Husband Of Lady Margot Fenring

Unlike the other characters left out of the recent Dune movies, Count Fenring did have scenes that were later cut. This character’s wife even stayed in the final cut of the film, albeit in a relatively small role. Margot Fenring was played by Léa Seydoux, a Bene Gesserit who seduces Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and tests him using the Gom Jabbar.

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Actor Tim Blake Nelson was revealed to have been brought on for a role in the latest film, only to have the scenes later cut, and it's expected that he could have played Count Fenring. Fenring is a close friend of Emperor Shaddam IV, often doing his bidding, and the Bene Gesserit considered him to be another of the “close calls” they had, in order to create the Kwisatz Haderach, similar to Feyd-Rautha. He and his wife played small roles in the overall story of the Dune book, but nevertheless, they were considered important characters.

4 Esmar Tuek

A Spice Smuggler With Allegiance To The Fremen

Smuggler On Arrakis
Helped Duke Leto Establish His Position

The first Dune film was definitely a condensed version of the early part of the book, with the Atreides’ time of peace after arriving on Arrakis made to seem much shorter than it actually was. They had banquets with locals and got to know the problems of the region in the book, including Esmar Tuek, a smuggler whom they invited to dinner and met with on several occasions.

In the book, Esmar helps Duke Leto establish his power on Arrakis by helping hand over Harkonnen spies and shame a banker on the Harkonnen payroll. However, he was unfortunately still in Arrakeen when the attack came on the Atreides, and Esmar didn’t make it out like so many others in the city. Despite appearing in previous adaptations of the book, Esmar was completely forgotten as the timeline was sped up in the new films.

3 Staban Tuek

Saved Gurney Halleck Through Providing Sanctuary

Smuggler On Arrakis
Helped Gurney Halleck And The Atreides Warriors

Though he was a fairly minor character even in the Dune book, Staban Tuek, son of Esmar, gives a little more context to the events that transpired to Gurney Halleck and his surviving Atreides men from the assault on House Atreides to their smuggling days.

Staban was, like his father, a smuggler, and actively worked to oppose Harkonnen rule both before and after the Atreides stint ruling Arrakis. His hatred of them only grew after they were responsible for the death of his father, leading to him welcoming Gurney Halleck and the other Atreides soldiers as part of his crew. They continued trading with the Fremen and undermining Harkonnen operations for years before Gurney found Paul alive and getting involved in the battles to come.

2 Harah

Paul’s First “Wife” By Custom

Wife Of Jamis, Given To Paul
Survived And Cared For His Children

The recent Dune movie adaptations have definitely introduced some progressive elements, particularly in bringing Chani and Jessica to the forefront and making them seem less like pawns in Paul’s story. In leaving Harah out of the films completely, the filmmakers perhaps saved themselves a difficult situation, since Harah was essentially a “trophy” won by Paul when he killed Jamis.

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Though the first man he kills haunts Paul throughout Dune: Part Two, there is no further fallout from the death of Jamis. In the book, when Paul first arrives in Sietch Tabr, he is told that he has inherited the property and family of Jamis since he killed him, making Harah basically a servant to him. Though Paul treats this honorably, and Harah remains a featured character as one of the carers of Paul’s children in Children of Dune, Harah didn’t really belong in the more progressive Fremen society depicted in the Denis Villeneuve adaptations.

1 Leto Atreides II The Elder

Paul & Chani's First Child, Murdered During Infancy

Paul Atreides Watching Destruction In Dune Part Two

Paul & Chani's First Child
Perished During The War Against The Emperor

Though there are many tragic elements to the recent Dune adaptations, one major death was left out due to the speeding-up of the timeline. In the Dune book, Paul and Chani had a son during their time fighting against the Harkonnens, and he remained in Sietch Tabr when his parents went to attack Arrakeen. Unfortunately, he was killed in a Sardaukar attack on the Sietch.

While Paul and Chani would go on to have children, and name another of them Leto II, in the future books, this son and his loss were a keenly felt tragedy at the time. With Chani’s role changing in the recent films, and the timeline not even giving Jessica a chance to give birth, it made little sense to include Leto II. The destruction of Sietch Tabr is still included and remains tragic on its own.