Why Dune's Grossest Character Will Never Get His Final Form On-Screen (Probably)

For an adaptation of a novel that has been considered unfilmable, "Dune: Part Two" blew everyone away at the box office, walking away from its opening weekend with a hefty $81.5 million. Still, die-hard fans of Frank Herbert's beloved sci-fi epic might have issues with the film's biggest changes to Paul (Timothée Chalamet), Chani (Zendaya), and the Atreides family tree. It seems director Denis Villeneuve has been doing his best to avoid introducing Paul and Chani's children — although Leto Atreides II the Elder would have been infinitely easier than their second son, Leto Atreides II, who ultimately becomes a human-sandworm hybrid.

Leto Atreides II is born in Herbert's second book, "Dune Messiah," but it's in "Children of Dune" and "God Emperor of Dune" that things get weird (well, weird for a world that already rides giant worms and travels via mystical seasoning). In "Children of Dune," Leto II fuses with sandtrout (sandworm larvae), gaining heightened strength, speed, and reflexes, as well as an exoskeleton. 3,500 years later, in "God Emperor of Dune," he's strutting around Arrakis as a fully-formed, 23-foot-tall human-sandworm hybrid who controls all of civilization. Thank the Lisan Al-Gaib, then, that Villeneuve is stopping after "Messiah."

As far as Denis Villeneuve is concerned, a three-course meal is enough melange for him. Speaking to Empire in 2023 about his plans after "Dune: Part Two," the director said, "If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream." And that dream fulfilled is the end of the "Dune" universe for Villeneuve, who added, "After that the books become more ... esoteric." That's one way of putting it.

Besides the future of the Atreides bloodline becoming a human-sandworm hybrid, Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) gets cloned more than Boba Fett, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) comes back to possess his granddaughter, and Paul is thought to be dead, only to return from the desert just after Leto II begins his outrageous transformation. It's quite frankly just a little bit bonkers.

Of course, given Warner Bros.' success with the excellent sci-fi sequel that is "Dune: Part Two" and the likely success of 2026's upcoming "Dune: Part Three," it'd come as no surprise if executives wanted to take things further even without Villeneuve at the helm. Be that as it may, Leto II becoming a human-sandworm hybrid is the line in the sand that should not be crossed. Seeing Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya walking without rhythm so as not to attract a sandworm may look silly, but seeing a giant face sprouting out of the top of one would be downright stupid.