Fan-Favorite Dune Star Returning For Next Movie (and It’s a Big Change From the Book)

by

Denis Villeneuve’s *Dune* films are quickly becoming one of the most important science fiction series ever made. The first two movies have been both critically acclaimed—receiving nominations for Best Picture—and successful in theaters. Fans are excited to see how Villeneuve approaches his third *Dune* film, which will be based on the novel *Dune: Messiah*. While Villeneuve has done a fantastic job adapting Frank Herbert’s classic story for the big screen, he’s made some changes along the way to improve the films. He’s doing that again with *Messiah*, but it’s a change that most viewers will likely appreciate.

Rebecca Ferguson, known for her role as Lady Jessica in the first two *Dune* films, has confirmed she will be back for the third movie. In an interview with *IndieWire*, she explained that her part isn’t large, as the character appears only briefly in the source novel. She suggested director Denis Villeneuve specifically included her, and praised the script as excellent, acknowledging the challenges of adapting such a complex book. Ferguson expressed her full confidence in Villeneuve’s vision and ability to stay true to the story while bringing it to life on screen.

Dune: Part Three Will Make Key Changes to Dune: Messiah

Rebecca Ferguson’s return as Lady Jessica in the upcoming *Dune 3* is interesting because her character isn’t present in the novel *Dune: Messiah*. The book explains her absence by saying she’s traveled to Caladan, the ancestral home of the Atreides family. She doesn’t return to Arrakis until *Children of Dune*. While Ferguson couldn’t reveal much about how big her part will be, her appearance is a significant change from the original story, as Lady Jessica will be shown on screen. It’s currently unclear if she’ll appear as a vision or play a more active role in the plot.

The upcoming film, *Dune: Part Three*, might offer insights into Lady Jessica’s role, potentially drawing from the novel *Children of Dune*. In that book, she returns to Arrakis to study Paul Atreides’ twins, Leto II and Ghanima, and the actors Nakoa-Wolf Momoa and Ida Brooke have been cast to play them. This suggests the movie could adapt this storyline and might even avoid the large time jump that occurs between the first two books, *Dune* and *Messiah*, by including parts of *Children of Dune*. It will be fascinating to see how director Denis Villeneuve approaches this adaptation.

When production started on the next *Dune* movie this summer, it was described as the final film in Denis Villeneuve’s planned trilogy. This is a bit of a shift from what Villeneuve said earlier, but plans can change during filmmaking. Calling it the third part of a trilogy suggests this movie will wrap up the current story arc, potentially bringing Villeneuve’s involvement with the series to a close. While there are other *Dune* novels that could be made into films later, the team may have decided it’s best to end the story now, on a strong note. Notably, the movie is reportedly titled *Dune: Part Three* instead of *Dune: Messiah*, which suggests the film might combine elements from multiple books, rather than being a direct adaptation of a single novel.

Adapting a book into a movie always requires some changes, and Denis Villeneuve’s *Dune* films are no exception. For the third *Dune* movie, he’ll likely need to make adjustments beyond just the character of Lady Jessica. While fans are thrilled about Jason Momoa’s return, his character’s storyline in the books is problematic and wouldn’t work well on screen. Villeneuve will need to balance staying true to the source material with modernizing the story for a new audience. So far, he’s done an excellent job with the *Dune* series and has earned the confidence of viewers.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/dune-star-reduced-role-part-3-makes-sense-josh-brolin-gurney-halleck/embed/#

Read More

2025-10-07 23:40