Dune Messiah, which will serve as the primary basis for Dune 3, is packed full of weird moments that audiences will absolutely not be ready to see.

Dune Messiah, which will serve as the primary basis for Dune: Part Three, is packed full of weird moments that audiences will absolutely not be ready to see. Dune: Part Two, the adaptation of the second half of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi classic, already featured some strange moments and plot points, including the unborn-yet-omniscient Alia Atreides (Anya Taylor-Joy). However, the Dune novel sequels — Dune Messiah and Children of Dune — take the weirdness to new heights. So far, it’s not yet clear how much Denis Villeneuve will pull from Herbert’s other Dune installments. While Dune Messiah concludes Paul Atreides’ (Timothée Chalamet) story, the Frank Herbert’s Dune miniseries from 2000 combined Messiah and its follow-up, Children of Dune, which centers on Paul’s heirs: his and Chani’s (Zendaya) twins, Ghanima and future God Emperor of the Universe Leto II.

In Dune 2’s ending, Paul succumbs to his foretold fate. Frustrated by the Harkonnen attack on a Fremen sietch, Paul leads the people of Arrakis against both the Harkonnens and the Imperial forces occupying Arrakis. After drinking Dune’s Water of Life and undergoing the spice agony, Paul Atreides cements his place as the Fremen messiah as well as the Bene Gesserit’s Kwisatz Haderach — an all-powerful being who possesses absolute prescience. Unlike in Herbert’s novel, Chani can’t stomach Paul’s decision. At the end of Dune 2, Chani leaves Paul and heads into the desert. This rift between the pair sets up a very different Dune 3, even though other outcomes remain the same. Paul demands Princess Irulan’s (Florence Pugh) hand in marriage, assumes the role of Emperor of the Known Universe, and frees the planet Arrakis.

However, it’s the impending fallout of Paul’s actions that make him anything but a heroic figure. When he chose to drink the Water of Life and become the Fremen messiah, Paul knew that the Fremen belief in him would become incredibly strong. Since he leads the Fremen in liberating Arrakis from the spice-obsessed entities that wish to control and occupy it, the desert planet’s indigenous people feel a religious-like fervor for their prophesied Lisan al Gaib. At the end of Herbert’s first novel, Paul’s actions set into motion an unstoppable holy war that’s waged in his name by the Fremen. A villain, Paul Atreides’ actions in Dune result in the deaths of billions of people throughout the universe. Despite his ability to see future paths, Emperor Paul Atreides struggles to maintain control over his followers.

In Dune Messiah, the Bene Gesserit work with other universe-shaping forces to destabilize Paul’s rule. Notably, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) chose to bear her husband a son instead of a daughter, thus disrupting the Bene Gesserit breeding program — a painstakingly organized plan meant to bring about the birth of the Kwisatz Haderach. Jessica’s choice meant that the prophesied being, her son Paul, came a generation early. Since the Bene Gesserit maintain their power through sly manipulation, they have more than a bone to pick with Paul Atreides. Along with the Spacing Guild, which was notably absent from Villeneuve’s Dune movies, and the mysterious Tleilaxu, the Bene Gesserit scheme to kill Paul. This leads to some of Dune Messiah’s most bizarre moments. Since Children of Dune only gets stranger, Dune 3 has tons to contend with.

The Bene Tleilax

Another Bizarre Order In Dune That Trades In Biological Products

The Bene Tleilax, which is also known as the Tleilaxu, plays a crucial role in Dune Messiah. Even so, the order is incredibly bizarre — even by Dune’s standards. Isolationist and xenophobic, the Tleilaxu are genetic manipulators. However, unlike the Bene Gesserit, they traffic in biological products, ranging from artificial eyes to twisted clones of the dead. The inner circle of the order, the council of Tleilaxu Masters, employ Face Dancers — servants who can mimic any human. Despite being universally distrusted, the Tleilaxu ally themselves with the Bene Gesserit in Dune Messiah (and, likely, Dune 3) because they want to topple Paul’s reign. With gray skin and pointed teeth, the order is perhaps the most alien of all Dune’s societies. However, it’s the Bene Tleilax manipulations and creations that are the most bizarre aspect of them.

Face Dancers

Dune Messiah’s Shape-Shifters Play A Key Role

As mentioned above, the Bene Tleilax employ servants known as Face Dancers. Bred by the Tleilaxu Masters, Face Dancers are often used as spies or assassins due to their uncanny ability to mimic any human. As the shifters’ faces move, it appears as though their skin is “dancing” — hence the unsettling moniker. Face Dancers’ abilities allow the Bene Tleilax to infiltrate any organization or government. However, skilled Bene Gesserit acolytes are able to discern when a Face Dancer has replaced an individual due to pheromone changes. Since the two orders join forces against Paul in Dune Messiah, they’re a nearly unstoppable team. If a Face Dancer stays in one role too long, they become delusional and believe they really are the person in question, which makes their role in Dune 3’s story even more sinister.

Dune Messiah’s Ghola Creations

Clones Of The Dead Pose A Threat To Paul Atreides

Dune Messiah’s introduction of gholas is another unbelievably wild turn. In the canon of Dune, a ghola is an artificial human, but, unlike the clones of other sci-fi novels, gholas are specifically replicated from dead subjects. Created in Axlotl tanks, gholas can be made of almost anyone so long as there’s a single cell from the original being at the ready. Again, the Gholas are a product of the Bene Tleilax. In Dune Messiah, one of the Bene Tleilax’s main efforts to usurp Paul revolves around creating a ghola of his former mentor, the late Duncan Idaho (Jason Mamoa). The hope is that the Duncan ghola will get close enough to Paul to kill him, for example. However, Duncan Idaho’s consciousness is able to overcome all else, and he assumes “control” of his ghola body.

Paul & Chani’s Children Are Born With Wild Abilities

Leto II & Ghanima Follow In Alia’s Footsteps

Much like in Dune: Part Two, Dune Messiah features some rather “out there” depictions of children who have been exposed to the spice will in utero. Alia Atreides, Dune’s weirdest character, didn’t make a true-to-the-book appearance in Dune 2, which was probably for the best. Since Lady Jessica is pregnant when she undergoes spice agony, Alia, Paul’s younger sister, is born a full-fledged Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. Referred to as an “Abomination,” Alia the toddler is responsible for killing Baron Harkonnen in Herbert’s novel. Wisely, Dune 2 makes the unborn Alia able to communicate telepathically with her mother and brother, so the movie doesn’t broach bringing a knife-wielding toddler onto the big screen — unlike David Lynch’s 1984 Dune, which goes all in on bringing a book-accurate Alia Atreides to life (for better and, mostly, worse).

In Dune Messiah, Chani eventually gives birth to twins, Leto II and Ghanima. Exposed to spice, and the children of Paul, the twins also inherit the genetic memory of the Bene Gesserit, among other wild abilities. This wouldn’t be too bizarre if it weren’t for the fact that an infant Leto II saves his father’s life. After Paul becomes physically blind, he is seemingly unable to fend off an attack from the Face Dancer Scytale. Thankfully, Paul sees a vision from the perspective of his son, which allows him to successfully kill Scytale before he himself is assassinated. It’s one of Dune Messiah’s more bizarre action sequences, which is really saying something. Of course, the strangeness of Leto II and Ghanima doesn’t end there. The twins are key characters in the sequel, Children of Dune.

Alia Atreides Falls In Love With Ghola

Paul’s Sister Is Later Possessed By Baron Harkonnen In The Third Dune Book

Alia Atreides was born to be one of Dune’s stranger characters. As the books go on, things don’t get any more normal for Paul’s younger sister. The toddler with Reverend Mother abilities not only kills Baron Harkonnen in Dune, but becomes regent for Paul’s children after he leaves his throne to wander the desert in true Fremen tradition. Able to access genetic memory, Alia is unable to fend off some of her more troubling ancestors, including the Baron, who is actually her grandfather in the complex Atreides/Harkonnen family tree. Possessed by Baron Harkonnen for a bulk of Children of Dune, Alia is something of an antagonist. Not to mention, in Dune Messiah she also falls in love with the ghola of Duncan Idaho, making her story arc one of Dune 3’s most unhinged.

Paul’s Son Becomes A Human-Sandworm Hybrid

Paul’s Twins Also Marry Each Other In Children Of Dune

While it remains to be seen if Villeneuve will borrow from both Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, the director has plenty of bizarre plot points to choose from where the latter is concerned. Dealing with their Baron-possessed aunt, Leto II and Ghanima have an action-packed time in the third Dune book. Eventually, Leto II decides to take the so-called Golden Path — the optimal road forward for humanity so that it would not stagnate under its current structure and conditions. To do so, Leto adopts a “sandtrout skin,” crafting a future in which he becomes a human-sandworm hybrid. The sandworm skin makes him pretty indestructible, allowing the so-called God Emperor to live a long, long time. To consolidate his power and ensure the future of House Atreides, Leto also marries his sister, though Ghanima has children by another suitor. Even so, it’s an incredibly disturbing turn of events: Paul’s children marry and one of them becomes part sandworm — which might just make it into Dune 3.