Summary
- Pattinson may play a key villain role in Dune: Messiah, likely Scytale, a strategic character.
- Changes in Dune: Messiah adaptation would include timeline adjustments and potential divergences like character aging.
- Future Dune plans are uncertain beyond the planned trilogy, with no confirmation on further adaptations.
Following the reports of Robert Pattinson joining the star-studded cast of Denis Villenueve’s Dune: Messiah, fans have been awash with speculation about his potential role in the film.
Alongside the upcoming sequel to The Batman, Pattinson is currently in production on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, ahead of production beginning on Messiah this Summer. He would be joining a cast including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh, who have so far been announced to return, while others, including Anya Taylor-Joy, are yet to be confirmed.
Pattinson
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The Hollywood Reporter indicates Pattinson will be playing the "chief villain" role of the film and is likely playing Scytale, a character introduced in Frank Herbert’s sequel novel. Scytale is a charismatic and strategic character, not quite the brutal enforcer we saw from Austin Butler's Feyd Rautha in Dune: Part Two.
Whilst Pattinson's casting has not yet been confirmed, it would likely indicate yet another delay for Matt Reeve’s sequel to The Batman. Recently, Dune and Dune: Part Two cinematographer Greig Fraser announced he wouldn’t be returning for the newest installment due to scheduling conflicts with the sequel to The Batman, but Pattinson’s involvement here could signal another delay to the film.
So Who Is Dune: Messiah's Scytale?
Spoilers below for Dune: Messiah.
In the Dune: Messiah book, Paul Atreides has completed his holy war and serves as emperor of the galaxy alongside his wife, children, and allies, twelve years after the events of the original Dune.
Much like his father Leto, Paul faces complex political intrigue and attempted assassinations while ruling. One of the members of this conspiracy to dethrone the emperor is Scytale, who grows close to the Emperor before mounting a betrayal.
Scytale is a Tleilaxu, a species of genetically-altered humans from the planet Tleilax. The Tleilaxu belong to a long-hidden religion with plans to convert the universe to their order, and they plot alongside the Bene Gesserit to undermine the Muad’Dib legend. Scytale is a face-dancer, a class of warrior with the ability to change his appearance, which helps him blend in as a spy in the Emperor’s ranks.
Also recently confirmed to be returning alongside the surviving cast of Dune: Part Two was Jason Momoa, whose character Duncan Idaho unexpectedly returned as a primary character throughout Herbert’s sequel novels. In the books, the Tleilaxu are behind the revival of Idaho, and Momoa will likely be spending plenty of screentime opposite Pattinson’s Scytale as well as Chalamet’s Paul.
What Changes Are Likely To Be made For A Dune: Messiah Film?
Whilst Vilenueve’s Dune adaptations have largely been considered the most accurate adaptations of the source material we've gotten yet, both films still made a considerable number of changes from Herbert’s novels in their translation to the screen.
Dune: Messiah is set to be no exception, with a number of plot points already setting themselves apart. Much of the timeline is set to play out differently to the books; since the films will be shot just a few years apart, the 12-year gap between Herbert's first two books will not be as strongly felt. It remains to be seen if Chalamet, Zendaya, or Pugh will undergo makeup/CGI effects to 'age' them up, or if the film can simply hand-wave away their youthfulness to the life-extending properties of spice.
Also relevant is Paul's sister Alia, who by the end of Dune: Part Two hasn’t yet been born and is only shown in a brief vision of the future (played by Anya Taylor Joy). By the end of Herbert’s first book, Alia is already two years old, and Paul and Chani have begun to have children, which it appears the films will diverge from for now.
Pattinson actually wouldn’t be the first actor to portray the villain on-screen, as Scytale also appeared in Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune, a 2003 miniseries loosely adapting both the novel of the same name as well as Dune: Messiah. In this version, he was played by Martin McDougal, though his screentime is likely comparatively slim in the miniseries.
Scytale also features in some of Herbert’s many sequel novels, set thousands of years after Dune: Messiah. In Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, a character named Scytale is said to have cheated death and accessed the memories of a Face Dancer who once met Muad’Dib.
Similar to the Tleilaxu’s continued resurrection of Duncan Idaho, this would provide some returning cast members for potential adaptations of future books. As it seems unclear whether those novels will be adapted at this point, it’s unlikely that Pattinson’s Scytale will appear in any films beyond Dune: Messiah.
And What About Future Plans For Dune As A Whole?
Fans have speculated whether Denis Vilenueve or another filmmaker will continue adapting beyond Dune: Messiah, but for now, we have no confirmation. A prequel series named Dune: Prophecy, set approximately 10,000 years before the events of the film released last year, but neither WB nor Legendary have announced any plans for additional spin-offs or sequels.
Whilst Frank Herbert wrote four more sequel novels beyond Messiah, so far Denis Villenueve has only described his films as a trilogy, and there hasn’t yet been any indication of plans to adapt those later books.
Details for Dune: Messiah have been scarce ahead of production beginning in full this Summer, but at present, the film is set to release on December 16th, 2026.
Until then, Dune fans have plenty of reading to catch up on across Herbert’s series and his son Brian’s prequel novels, as well as the upcoming Dune: Awakening MMO to dive into.
