How ‘Dune’ Director Made a Major Character Change to Be More Faithful to Story

Writer and director Denis Villeneuve has been dreaming of adapting Frank Herbert's influential 1965 sci-fi novel since he first read it at 13. As a young teenager without a camera in sight, the filmmaker behind Blade Runner 2049, Prisoners and Sicario began to storyboard his vision for a Dune film with a childhood friend. Forty years later, he would get the chance to put those visions of Arrakis to use.

The first two Dune films have been a bigger triumph than the French-Canadian director could have ever imagined as a boy fantasizing about making a movie of his favorite book. Neither entry in the franchise has broken box office records, but both films have been very strong performers. Part One grossed $410 million in 2021 (during COVID-19), and Part Two brought in $715 million at the worldwide box office in 2024.

The achievement of Villeneuve's adaptation has little to do with dollar signs. His two-part realized vision of Frank Herbert's original story is widely considered among the greatest sci-fi films of the 21st century.

Having such a strong connection and history with the source material, it was important to Villeneuve to create the most faithful book-to-screen film he could. Because of Herbert’s feelings about how readers interpreted Dune, the director, who also co-wrote both screenplays, decided to fundamentally change one of the biggest characters.

Chani, who is played by Zendaya in the films, serves as Paul Atreides’ love interest in both the book and the movies. However, in the 1965 novel, Chani is one of Paul’s most loyal and unswayable followers. She has an inextinguishable fire in her belief that Paul is the Lisan al-Gaib, the Fremen messiah. For his films, Villeneuve made the bold choice of transforming Chani from Paul’s biggest believer into his biggest skeptic. The Fremen warrior still loves Timothée Chalamet’s character in the movies, but she does not believe in the prophecy that he is a messiah for her people. While almost all the Fremen begin to follow Paul as their savior, Chani’s beliefs serve as the audience’s counterargument, leading viewers to question the validity of the prophecy.

In a post-screening discussion of Dune: Part Two, Villeneuve described how it was more important to be true to Herbert’s intentions for the story than to the details of the story itself.

“When Frank Herbert wrote Dune, and when the book came out, he felt that readers misunderstood him,” Villeneuve explained. “People saw Dune as a celebration of Paul Atreides, but he wanted the book to be a warning regarding messianic figures. In my adaptation, specifically in Part Two, I’m trying to be faithful to the book, but more, I’m trying to be faithful to Frank Herbert’s wishes and desires.”

Villeneuve continued, “Chani, in the second part of the book, kind of disappeared in Paul’s shadow. The character becomes less interesting. I thought there was a strong opportunity there to create a character who would give us a new perspective on Paul in order to get closer to Frank Herbert’s intentions.”

Villeneuve has discussed numerous times that his and Herbert’s intention was to portray Paul as a dark figure, not a hero to be worshipped. Both wanted to tell a story about the dangers of charismatic leaders and absolute power. Changing the character of Chani helped make Herbert's intentions more prevalent.

Dune: Part Three hits theaters Dec. 18. Adapting Herbert’s follow-up novel, Dune: Messiah, Villeneuve has cited the book as Herbert’s response to audiences misinterpreting the story’s lead character.

Advance tickets went on sale for the conclusion of the trilogy eight months prior to release and sold out almost instantly. Moviegoers are waiting with anticipation to see where the director will take the sci-fi franchise next.