Wow! What a piece of news.

Seeing Anya Taylor-Joy at the London Premiere of Dune Part 2, along with the confirmation that she plays a secret role in the film, is very exciting news. March 1st is creeping up and there’s not long to wait now before seeing the conclusion of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s first Dune novel.

I have to say that this cast is something else. Villeneuve certainly seems capable of attracting all the very best talent to this project. I mean, when you look at it, it’s phenomenal. Adding Taylor-Joy to a group already bursting with talent is the real icing on the cake. She was so, so good in The Queen’s Gambit. This teaser is a great piece of marketing, making fans salivate over what kind of role she could be playing.

Before we get into that, though, let’s just remind ourselves about the rest of the big news castings for this second half of the story.

Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan

Another very sought after and talented actor. putting someone this talented in the role must mean that the character is going to get more involvement than she does in the book. Julie Cox did a great job of this in the mini series and we saw the potential of the character. Having said that about the book, Irulan does have input over just about every chapter through her writings. It is almost like she’s narrating the story itself, so it seems fitting that she has more to do in the filmed version. Bene Gesserit trained, indeed.

Christoper Walken as Shaddam IV

This is the only one I’m not sure about. I hope to be happily surprised, but I really wanted Damian Lewis for this role. The Emperor is supposed to look around Leto’s age with red hair. having him as someone much older is too much of a trope. Don’t get me wrong. Christopher, Walken! Is one of, my, favourite actors. I just don’t see him as Shaddam. Again, I hope to be proved wrong.

Austin Butler as Feyd Rautha Harkonnen

Great choice. All the promo shots of him make him look particularly nasty. I never got Feyd’s character in the book. He’s meant to be a fearsome warrior but he fights exclusively against drugged opponents and has a massive advantage in each case. His defeat at Paul’s hands is always something of a given in my eyes. Trickery aside, he even has trouble defeating a bog-standard Atreides trooper in the arena. I’m glad they’ve amped up the character to make him a bit more terrifying.

Lea Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring

It surprised me that the Fenrings (or at least one of them) are in this at all, given what we saw in the first film. It’s a great surprise though as the two add lots to the scenes they are in. Seydoux is another quality actor and I think she’ll do really well in this role.

Tim Blake-Nelson as Count Hasimir Fenring????

No confirmation on IMDb but it’s hard to see another potential role. If he is Fenring, I think this is genius. If not, maybe he’s one of the Guild agents at the climax. That’s a fairly important conversation at the climax and he could lend that some weight.

Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides???

Really, though. I can’t think of another possibility. Can you? There isn’t another part. Someone else online mentioned the young Reverend Mother Ramallo who meets Jessica in her mind after she drinks the water of life. I don;t think so. After that, what are the choices? It has to be Alia. So, how are they going to do it?

1. The ‘mote’. Adult Alia meets Jessica in her trance as she converts the water of life.
2. She voice/motion-captures a toddler with CGI – that could look all sorts of wrong.
3. voiceover of Alia’s thoughts (like they did with other characters in Lynch’s version)
4. She appears in a prescient vision to Paul.
5. We get an actual flash-forward at the end of the film that would tease Dune: Messiah. Wouldn’t it be great if we just cut forward a number of years to Paul on his throne in the spectacular throne room, head heavy with the weight of what he has done, Alia by his side with the shadow of the baron looming over her.

I’m leaning towards a combination of some of them (hopefully not 2). Her voice could be in the mind of the Baron and Mohiam, transmitted telepathically. They could make that work with a toddler, I’m sure. My only question is where that would leave us in Messiah? If they run straight on, they could just age Paul up a little to show the years.

Well, I’m certainly excited for this one. Even more now that one of my favourite actors is on board. A bit of mystery around it is great marketing. Let’s just see how the film turns out. What are you looking forward to most? Are there things you want to see, or don’t want to see? Who would you like to see Anya Taylor-Joy play in the film if not Alia? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers for reading,

Richard