After the war is won in “Dune: Part Two” and Paul reluctantly accepts the duty he has been fighting to take on, Chani abandons her off-world love, heading back into the desert alone. It might imply that this is the end of her relationship with the new Emperor, but things go very differently in “Dune: Messiah,” which is once again teased via the voiceovers of both her and Irulan in this pair of films.
Set 12 years after the events of the first book, “Dune: Messiah” sees Paul caught in the middle between the woman he loves and the one he has married for a position of power. Chani remains in the mix as his concubine and the woman he still deeply cares for, but they fail to produce an heir. This makes the situation even more complicated when Irulan is keen to keep her place of power and play a part in keeping the Atreides’ bloodline going.
Admittedly, these mounting tensions are barely brought to light in the final act of Denis Villeneuve’s closing epic installment. Zendaya and Pugh’s characters are left to only throw glances at one another across a room. Instead, Paul deals with the Emperor, and his powers shift in an epic and chest-thumping fashion. Should Villeneuve get “Dune: Messiah” done as planned, it’s likely that the women who help introduce Paul’s beginning will also be there for his end, as well.
