Dune 2 Failed To Answer A Burning Chani Question After The First Movie Changed Her Backstory

Dune: Part Two makes a compelling character out of Chani but surprisingly fails to answer one burning question about her after her Dune story change.

After the first Dune movie changed several aspects of Chani’s original story, Dune: Part Two failed to answer one burning question. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Dune 2 picks up exactly where the first film left. However, instead of having several ambiguous elements like its predecessor, Dune 2 presents a fully formed story that ties up many narrative threads from its source material before its credits start rolling and even makes room for a potential sequel.

While continuing the story arcs of characters like Paul, Chani, Stilgar, Baron, and Lady Jessica, Dune: Part Two also introduces new characters to the mix, like Feyd-Rautha, Princess Irulan, and Margot Fenring. However, despite walking through several crucial storylines from the original Frank Herbert book, Dune 2 seems to miss one important aspect of Chani’s character. A closer look at Chani’s story in Dune 2 also suggests that there could be a logical reason why the films do not include this one element of Chani’s characterization.

Dune 2 Does Not Reveal Who Chani’s Parents Are Or What Happened To Them

Dune 2 takes major creative liberties by not exploring Chani’s familial relationships

Zendaya as Chani looking serious in Dune 2

Timothee Chalamet as Paul and Zendaya as Chani in a vision of the future in Dune

Zendaya gazing intently at a shadowy figure in a scene from Dune: Part Two

Chani in Dune 2 against a backdrop of figures in the desert

Zendaya as Chani looking worried in Dune Part Two

After primarily appearing only in Paul’s dreams and visions in Dune, Chani becomes one of the main characters in Dune: Part Two. This allows the film to explore many aspects of her characterization, including her romantic relationship with Paul and skepticism towards the Lisan al-Gaib prophecy. However, despite delving deep into several aspects of her personality, motivations, and beliefs, the film does not reveal who her parents are and what happened to them. If her parents were not a part of the original Frank Herbert book, this development — or lack thereof — would not have been surprising.

However, unlike the film, the source material explicitly mentions who her parents are. This makes it hard not to wonder why the details surrounding her familial relations were flossed over in the film. Whether it was the movie’s limited runtime that prevented it from going deeper into this aspect of her backstory or a deliberate choice from the filmmakers to bring more changes to her book’s story, the omission of her parents leaves room for some intriguing speculations and theories surrounding who her parents could be in the movies.

Chani Is Liet Kynes’ Daughter In The Book, But Not 2021’s Dune

2021’s Dune does not confirm Kynes’ relationship with Chani

Kynes looking at the desert in Dune Part 1

In the original Frank Herbert book, Liet Kynes is portrayed as Chani’s father. However, since Kynes is a woman in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, she would have to be Chani’s mother in the film. While this could be a distant possibility, nothing in the two films suggests that Kynes was even related to Chani. In the original books, Chani’s motives are also in tandem with Kynes’. Kynes and many others in the Fremen community wish to terraform Arrakis to make its living conditions more favorable.

If the movies had accurately portrayed her relationship with her father, Chani would have been less defiant and more involved in the political dynamics of Arrakis.

The book’s Chani is also well aware of the complex politics surrounding the terraforming project and even knows about her father’s connections with the Emperor. Owing to this, she understands how Paul would benefit from marrying Irulan. As seen in Dune: Part Two, however, the movie series’ version of Chani has a lot more agency, which does not align too well with how she has been depicted in the books. If the movies had accurately portrayed her relationship with her father, Chani would have been less defiant and more involved in the political dynamics of Arrakis.

Dune 2 Hints That Chani Could Be Jamis’ Daughter

One Dune 2 scene makes Chani’s father’s identity even more confusing

Jamis standing sullenly with Paul bent over in the background in Dune-1

There is a brief scene in Dune: Part Two in which Paul is walking through the desert before his eyes suddenly set on a Chani, who watches him while squatting at the top of the dunes. In this scene, Paul briefly assumes that Chani is Jamis, which seemingly hints that Jamis might have been Chani’s father. Paul mistaking Chani for Jamis might have solved the mystery behind the identity of Chani’s father, but, unfortunately, it does not confirm it. Strangely, in an interview (via EW), Denis Villeneuve confirmed that even though Kynes’ gender has been changed, she is still Chani’s mother.

The two installments of the Dune movie series do not seem to explicitly mention this. And even if one assumes that it holds true in the two films, Chani’s relationship with Kynes is not too relevant to the overarching storyline. With all the changes Dune: Part Two brings to Chani’s characterization, her relationship with Kynes will likely have little to no significance even in the future installments of the live-action franchise.