The empire is crumbling from the inside, and Dune: Part Three will show how that happens. Denis Villeneuve's final chapter in his Frank Herbert trilogy picks up 17 years after the events of Dune: Part Two, and by that point, Paul Atreides sits atop a galaxy-wide Jihad that has consumed billions of lives.
Based on Herbert's 1969 novel Dune Messiah, the film will focus on a shadowy multi-faction conspiracy to topple Paul before his rule destroys the known universe. It's a story built on betrayal, and the conspirators complicit in this betrayal are among the most fascinating characters in all of science fiction. With the film's official teaser trailer and character poster drops finally pulling back the curtain, the main villains of Dune: Part Three are now largely confirmed.
Key Villains Confirmed To Appear in Dune: Part Three
Scytale (Robert Pattinson)
Of all the new faces joining Dune: Part Three, Robert Pattinson's Scytale is probably the most intriguing one. Pattinson confirmed last year that he was featuring in the film, but we got a first look at his character via an official poster on March 16. Pattinson plays a Tleilaxu Face Dancer, a genetically engineered shape-shifter capable of assuming anyone's appearance. In the source novel, Scytale is the conspiracy's most dangerous operative, a transhuman agent who can become anyone he needs to be to get close to Paul.
Pattinson himself has spoken about Scytale's unusual moral ambiguity, teasing that he's an "extremely fun character":
"You can't really tell whose side he's on, which is kind of what makes him quite interesting. I wouldn’t say he’s a conventional bad guy, as such. He might even be a good guy. Who knows? I will also find out when I see the movie. It’s an extremely fun character to play."
We got an even better look at the character when the Dune: Part Three teaser trailer was released a day after the gritty poster. The footage shows Scytale appearing as a pale-skinned figure with blonde hair, dressed in white. His menacing presence immediately screams trouble.
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling)
Charlotte Rampling's Reverend Mother has been a fixture of this trilogy from the very first scene of Dune: Part One, arriving on Caladan with her gom jabbar to test Paul's humanity. In Dune Messiah, she is no longer a peripheral figure. She's one of the conspiracy's architects, joining forces with Scytale, Princess Irulan, and a Spacing Guild Navigator to dismantle Paul's rule before his Jihad devours what remains of the Imperium.
Rampling's return was confirmed in the official teaser trailer's credits. In the novel, Mohiam is forbidden from returning to Arrakis after Paul's rise to power, but the conspiracy draws her back, and Paul takes her into custody.
For the Bene Gesserit, Paul's continued reign is a worst-case scenario. He was their Kwisatz Haderach, a superbeing produced by centuries of careful genetic breeding, but he appeared a generation too early, defying their control.
Hayt (Jason Momoa)
Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho died heroically at the end of Dune: Part One, cutting down Sardaukar soldiers to buy Paul and Lady Jessica time to escape. Nobody who has read Dune Messiah ever truly expected that to be the last of him.
Momoa confirmed his return last year during press for A Minecraft Movie, joking to the press: "If you didn't read the books, it's not my fault." The teaser trailer subsequently revealed his comeback, and he's seen in a sparring contest. Per the books, the Bene Tleilaxu, a secretive faction of genetic engineers, recovered Duncan's body and used it to create a ghola, an artificially engineered person. The ghola is named Hayt, and he carries almost none of Duncan's original memories.
Hayt is the conspiracy's Trojan horse. Presented to Paul as a gift, he is designed to confuse the Emperor psychologically, exploit his grief over Duncan's death, and ultimately serve as an assassin.
Princess Irulan Corrino (Florence Pugh)
Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan closed Dune: Part Two in a position she never asked for, married to a man who does not love her, serving as empress to an empire built on religious fervor and blood. Dune: Part Three finds her a changed woman.
In Dune Messiah, Irulan is one of the conspiracy's active participants, a woman making calculated moves to reclaim her life and her Bene Gesserit loyalties. She works with Mohiam to interfere with Paul and Chani's attempts to have a child, secretly administering contraceptives to Chani to ensure that any Atreides heir would have to come through Irulan herself.
What makes Irulan's story compelling is that she is neither purely villainous nor fully sympathetic. She is an educated, capable woman trapped in a political marriage by the empire she now conspires against. Irulan appears in the Dune: Part Three teaser trailer for a few seconds, confirming her role in the film.
BONUS: Edric the Guild Navigator
Edric the Guild Navigator has not been confirmed for Dune: Part Three. But anyone who has read Dune Messiah knows the conspiracy barely functions without him, which makes his absence from the confirmed cast one of the more puzzling open questions heading into December.
In the novel, Edric is a third-stage Spacing Guild Navigator, perpetually suspended in a tank of orange spice gas, his body mutated by decades of heavy melange consumption into something barely recognizable as human.
His function in the conspiracy is irreplaceable. Because Guild Navigators possess their own form of limited prescience, they create a blind spot in Paul's visions. Everything the conspirators plan while shielded by Edric is invisible to the Emperor. Without that cover, Paul would see the plot before it ever got started. So it shows how big a part he plays in the story. It'll be a surprise if Edric doesn’t feature in the film. For now, he's an unconfirmed villain.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
