Fans got a taste of who the four main characters in Dune 3 will be as part of a recent insider report, as well as one shocking omission that will have some ready to revolt. The third Dune movie from Arrival director Denis Villeneuve was announced shortly after 2024's acclaimed Dune: Part Two, set to adapt the second book in Frank Herbert's beloved sci-fi book series, Dune: Messiah. Messiah is a different kind of story than the relatively straightforward first book, but that does not mean it will not include the fan-favorite characters fans have come to know and love.
Speaking on a recent podcast, insiders Jeff Sneider and John Rocha shared some new tidbits about the upcoming Dune 3 movie, including who will be the main characters. Most of the inclusions on their list were largely expected; however, one character was missing from their list of leading players, which will raise some eyebrows.
The idea of Denis Villeneuve's third Dune movie was brought up by the two on the Thursday, June 5, 2025, episode of The Hot Mic podcast, with both longtime journalists disclosing who they have heard the "real leads" of the new movie will be.
Dune 3 is set to be released in December 2026, hitting theaters in a stacked month that will include Avengers: Doomsday and Shrek 5. Directed once again by four-time Academy Award-nominee Denis Villeneuve, the renowned French Canadian filmmaker ventures beyond the bounds of the first Dune book.
Instead, Dune 3 will adapt the mind-bending Dune: Messiah, the 1969 second novel in the long-running Dune series. Messiah takes place more than a decade after the events of the first book and recounts the unexpected consequences of Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet in the movies) declaring himself a God-sent savior at the end of the first book/second film.
Every Reported Main Character in Dune 3
Paul Atreides
After being the hero of the first two Dune movies, it would make sense that Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides would have a significant role in Dune 3; however, his journey will look slightly different in the new movie as opposed to how Part One and Part Two previously framed him.
In Dune Messiah (the book Dune 3 will be based on), Paul goes from rising hero to ruthless tyrant, leaning into the Messiah status he bestows upon himself in the second movie's third act. Roch and Sneider discussed this in their recent podcast discussion on the subject, questioning if Paul is even "really like the lead in Dune: Messiah."
The pair of insiders (and noted sci-fi fans) posited that the third book is centered on the character's "decision to become essentially a messiah" and how that "possibly blows up in his face." Given how big a star Chalamet is, his role will likely be adjusted to put him at the center of the story; it will just be as a morally questionable hero rather than holier-than-thou main character fans have gotten used to in modern Hollywood storytelling.
Princess Irulan
Fans were surprised that someone as big as Florence Pugh (who most recently appeared in Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*) was cast/appeared in such a minimal role in Dune: Part Two, playing the eldest daughter of the 81st Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, Princess Irulan. Well, it was likely because she would be such a big part of the third movie when it came around.
Princess Irulan is key to the events of Dune: Messiah. As she is now the wife of the new tyrant emperor Paul, she plays into the book's story right from the beginning, brought in by her mysterious Bene Gesserit sisters to hopefully dethrone her husband after years of his oppressive rule.
Pugh's princess (now empress) character was labeled as a "meatier part" in Part Three, as well as being one of "the real leads" of the new movie. As Messiah's holy war ramps up, Irulan becomes a key voice of dissent against her terrifying husband, which will be a fun new layer to see for a character who did not get much of the spotlight in Dune: Part Two.
Duncan Idaho
Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho may be a bit of a surprising inclusion on this list for fans who have only seen the Dune movies. Momoa's Ginaz Swordsman was notably killed off in the Harkonnen siege on Arkeen that closed the first Dune movie; however, in a dramatic turn of events, he returns and plays a significant role in Dune: Messiah.
In their conversation about the film, Rocha and Sneider described Momoa's Duncan Idaho as a true "lead" alongside Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan. Sneider noted that in the book, the former protector of House Atrreides is "given to [Paul] as like a pet and then...becomes like his fighter," while also mentioning the potential romance between Duncan and Paul's newly introduced sister, Alia (Anya Taylor-Joy).
While Sneider is not incorrect in his evaluation of the general beats for Momoa's character in the third movie, there is so much more meat on the bone with Duncan Idaho's Dune 3 story. In Dune: Messiah, Duncan is brought back to live in an artificially made body (known as a ghola) and given to Emperor Paul as a gift. However, in secret, he has been programmed to kill Chalamet's leader of the Fremen and end his rule when he is deemed too ruthless for the galaxy's liking.
Alia Atreides
The last of this quartet of main characters listed by Sneider and Rocha was Anya Taylor-Joy's Alia Atreides. Introduced, via a bizarre vision, as Paul's unborn sister in Dune: Part Two, Taylor-Joy is expected to have a significant part in Dune: Part Three. In fact, Sneider himself mentioned she will "have a bigger part" in the new movie after only appearing for a split-second previously.
In the Dune: Messiah book, Alia is born and, since the end of Dune: Part Two, becomes a crucial part of House Attreides's inner workings. During this early period, she falls in love with Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho, who is now living as the mysterious Hayt (a gift to House Atreides given to the royal family by the Bene Tleilax).
However, Alia's story takes a turn when she becomes possessed by the memories of her ancestor, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, killing Duncan Idaho once again and joining the cause to remove her brother from the throne.
Chani
The one name that was notably not mentioned as a main character in Dune 3 was Zendaya's Chani. To this point in the Dune films, Zendaya's character has been critical, essentially serving as a co-lead alongside Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two. However, according to Jeff Sneider and John Rocha, she is "not in Dune: [Messiah] for very long," comparing her role to her rumored appearance in the upcoming Spider-Man 4.
This is odd, as one of the last images fans are left with in Dune: Part Two was Zendaya's Chani standing on an Arrakian dune watching Paul and his royal fleet leave the spice-covered planet, recontextualizing the ending of the first novel to put a particular focus on her feelings of Paul embracing his quote/unquote Messiah status.
In the book, Chani has a reasonably significant role, albeit a different one than from the events of the first Dune novel. She remains in contact with Paul in Messiah, being his secret lover with whom he is trying to birth an heir (while avoiding that very cause with his now-wife Princess Irulan). Seeing how scorned Zendaya's version of the character was in the movies over Paul's decision to take Irulan's hand, it seems unlikely her character's Dune 3 story will remain faithful to the books.
