Dune: Part 2, while a great movie, disappoints in how it handles certain female characters like it did in the previous film.

After years of anticipation, Dune 2 has finally arrived in theaters, shattering all expectations. Making over $360 million in the first two weeks alone, Denis Villeneuve’s film is deservedly getting rave reviews as it surpasses the superb original with bold and stunning artistry. As the follow-up to 2021’s Dune, the film continues the story of Frank Herbert’s first book. With half of the book covered, it laid a lot of groundwork for this sequel to be an immensely successful classic in the making.

Dune: Part Two picks up right where its predecessor left off and pushes the universe further than ever. The scale is bigger, the action is bolder and the visuals even more dazzling. But the film isn’t perfect, as it repeats one of the biggest mistakes from the previous movie. The first Dune‘s cliffhanger ending left audiences wanting more of not just Paul Atreides’ (played by Timothée Chalamet) story, but the female characters who didn’t get enough time to shine. It was one of the most glaring issues with the first film, and now Dune: Part Two has doubled down and done it again.

Zendaya Didn’t Get Enough to Work With

If you don’t know much about the books, like the majority of people, the marketing for Dune would’ve had you fooled. Zendaya was heavily shown in all the trailers and promotional material, implying that she would have a huge role in the film. She was set to play Chani, a member of the Fremen on the planet of Arrakis. Zendaya was all over the promotion. Everywhere you looked, the marketing made it seem like she would play just as big of a role as anyone else in the cast. An actress of her popularity playing the most important woman in the movie, it just made sense to assume she’d have a large presence. That’s why it was a surprise to many to see that Zendaya was only on-screen for seven minutes out of the two hours and 35-minute runtime.

In the film, Chani primarily appears in Paul’s visions throughout the film. When he dreamed, he would experience haunting looks into the future and Chani would in the vast majority of them. They would consistently flash throughout the film and were teasing an inevitable future on the way. It wasn’t until the end of the movie that she would appear in the flesh. Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica, found the Fremen they were searching for and joined their ranks.

Among them was Chani, thus fulfilling the start of Paul’s prophecy as she hesitantly joined up with him. Chani is treated more like a plot device than an actual character in the first film. She’s there to create a mystery for Paul and push his arc further ahead, but never gets to do anything on her own. Zendaya wasn’t given nearly enough interesting things to do in the film, which was a huge disappointment at the time.

Thankfully, Dune: Part Two set things straight and made her the important character she’s meant to be. Chani is arguably the second most important character in the film, as she gets an entire arc. We see her go from someone resenting Paul, to admiring him, and all the way back around to resentment by the end of the film. She grows and changes into the film’s lead over the course of the movie as the audience is able to see more of the Fremen culture and her character, which was greatly appreciated.

Villeneuve even made some changes to the book to make it so Chani was a more interesting character at this point in the story. Traditionally, she is more complicit in Paul’s quest for power, but the movie makes her strongly against it and directly tells him not to change. It’s not only a smart way to address the complaints about the source material, but it makes for a much more interesting movie.

History Repeats Itself with Florence

Warner Bros.

Unfortunately, Dune: Part Two repeats the Chani mistake with Florence Pugh’s character, Princess Irulan. In the original novel, Irulan plays a big part in the story that 2021’s Dune adapted. In an attempt to make the movie more cohesive and not cram too much into it, Villeneuve removed her along with her father, the Emperor, to focus on Paul more.

This allowed the audience to experience Paul’s journey through his own eyes, and not have someone else narrating and giving exposition on who Paul is destined to become one day. It makes sense for the story, but it also means the audience misses out on seeing an entire perspective of the conflict until the second film. An unfortunate trade-off that hurts her character in the long run as her arrival in Dune 2 doesn’t have as much weight as it should.

When Princess Irulan does finally make her debut, it’s a disappointing one as the female character is once again not given much to work with. While the film opens with her trademark narration in a nice homage to the book, she doesn’t get much else to do until the end of the movie. It’s not until Paul turns his back on Chani and demands Irulan’s hand in marriage in an attempt to gain more power that she becomes an important part of the film again. She steps in to willingly accept his marriage offer as long as her father’s life is spared, and thus the Holy War begins. Where the movie manages to give Chani more depth and correct the mistakes of the previous film, it also repeats it with Irulan not getting much development at all.

Florence Pugh is one of the most talented and biggest actresses working today, and it’s a shame to see her be handed so little. The film didn’t lean as heavily on Florence as it did Zendaya in the sequel’s marketing, but she was still a prominent figure in the first trailer. Expectations were set that she would be a big player in the film, and it’s frustrating to see yet another woman sidelined. Villeneuve is no stranger to making changes to the book’s canon in a way to make the films better, and so far they’ve worked. He should go out of his way to make any necessary changes so these two have a bigger role in the future of the franchise.

Dune 3 Needs to Learn from Past Mistakes

Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s all but confirmed that there will be a third Dune movie as Villeneuve has already stated the screenplay is nearly finished. It’s likely that the film, most likely to be titled Dune: Messiah, will be the last that he’s directing and round out the trilogy. While it’ll be exciting to see how the trilogy ends, one last movie means that there’s a chance to properly learn from past mistakes. Chani has already been set up to be the lead of the next film which is a great step to continuing with her character, so it’s safe to say that they’ll continue to do her character justice.

It’s also an opportunity to expand on Irulan and give Pugh something memorable to work with. She has a much bigger role in the Messiah book, meaning that it’s very likely she can become an actual character. Seeing how she takes to being Paul’s wife in his thirst for conquest as he spirals further and further down a dark path could be a fascinating story. There’s also the love triangle with Chani that could come up and create some interesting tension between the three potential leads. The possibility of seeing both Chani and Irulan work together would also help give both of them the screen time they deserve, along with furthering their relationships with Paul.

Most importantly though, another new female character was surprisingly introduced in Dune: Part Two. Anya Taylor-Joy makes a shocking appearance as Paul’s unborn sister Alia. Throughout the film, Lady Jessica communicates with her unborn fetus, but that’s the insane extent of Paul’s sister physically appearing in the film. After Paul drinks from the Water of Life, he’s given his strongest vision of the future yet, including a brief conversation with his grown-up sister from the future, played by Anya. With her character being set up for the sequel, in which she’s bound to have an important role, it gives them an opportunity to prove they’ve learned from their mistakes.

Alia is famously the main character of Messiah, and while they’ve understandably set Chani up for that position, they need to make good use of Anya’s talents. She is much better than standing around and acting as a plot device and needs to play a major role in the finale. All of these women have fascinating stories to be told, and with things coming to an end, they’re running out of time to get their stories told in live-action.