Dune 3 Can't Show These 5 Wildest Book Moments (Probably For the Best)

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve has done the impossible: turned Frank Herbert's complex and intense sci fi novel Dune into two popular and critically acclaimed films.

The success of the first two movies will probably mean more Dune on the horizon, and there's plenty of material available in Frank Herbert's six books.

However, even Villeneuve couldn't pull off these 5 wild moments from the novels.

1. The Chairdogs

In the novel Heretics of Dune, Frank Herbert introduced a bizarre furniture-animal hybrid. They're called 'chairdogs', and they're exactly what they sound like: a bioengineered combination of a chair and a dog.

The point of chairdogs is that they are designed to massage you while you sit in them, though if that actually sounds appealing to you I have a few questions about your taste (and your criminal history).

It's hard to imagine that Dune 3 will feature chairdogs, not because they're too complicated for CGI or too disturbing for a PG-13 rating. We just can't imagine any filmmaker would be willing to distract his audience with these bizarre but ultimately pointless objects.

2. Paul's Son Is A Mutant Worm

In later novels we meet the children of Paul Atreides, who are born with mystical powers. Paul's son Leto has the ability to see 'The Golden Path', the best possible timeline for the universe.

In order for The Golden Path to be fully realized, Leto must slowly mutate into a sandworm/human hybrid. Even in the pages of the novel, the final transformation is bizarre and quite grotesque, so it's hard to imagine the mutation making it to the big screen.

3. Masters of Sex

Late in the Dune timeline, after the death of human-sandworm-Emperor-God-Leto, a faction of the Bene Gesserit grow into power. They are called the Honored Matres, and they enslave people by developing sexual skills so intense it's basically a narcotic.

The victims of the Honored Matres are so addicted to that sweet sci-fi lovemaking that they will do anything to get another hit.

Dune contains a lot of wild plotlines, but in order for the story to work in a movie the audience needs to be able to take it seriously. The Honored Matre are just too camp for that.

4. Duncan Can Really Climb That Rope

In Book 4, a clone of Duncan Idaho (and there are many clones of Duncan Idho – thousands of years worth) climbs up a cliff. His form is deeply admired by supersoldier Nayla, who waits at the bottom, getting increasingly turned on and wishing that she could have clone-Duncan's baby.

After reaching the top and surveying the terrain, Duncan drops the rope. This is too much for the over-stimulated Nayla, who promptly has an orgasm.

That's how women work, right?

5. The Butlerian Jihad

At the very beginning of the first Dune book, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam asks young Paul Atreides what he knows about the Butlerian Jihad - a holy war between humanity and "thinking machines" (which was actually between one part of humanity that used AI to enslave another part of humanity that strongly opposed it, started a war that killed billions, and destroyed all computers).

The Jihad is a pivotal point in the history and mythology of the Dune universe, and of course it's quite action-packed. However, it takes place so early in the timeline and is so far removed from Paul Atreides that we doubt it will ever make it into the movies.

More To Come

Dune: Part 2 is currently the highest grossing film of 2024, with box office receipts topping $700 million. There are already plans for a third Dune movie with Denis Villeneuve at the helm, though it's unlikely that we'll see it in theaters before 2027.