Christopher Walken’s performance as Emperor Shaddam IV in Dune: Part Two has been criticized, but those complaints have missed the point.

Christopher Walken’s performance as Emperor Shaddam IV is one of the only aspects of Dune: Part Two that’s been widely criticized, but those complaints have completely missed the point of the character. After being built up as the all-powerful ruler of the Known Universe in Dune: Part One, the Emperor was finally revealed in Dune: Part Two, with Oscar-winning screen legend Walken taking on the role. After all the build-up, the Emperor was considered to be a let-down, with Walken doing little to shake up his usual acting style or make the character stand out.

But that was secretly the perfect choice for this character. Emperor Shaddam isn’t just the big bad of Dune; his role as the mysterious tyrant ruling over the world is key to the story’s thematic exploration of leadership and the corruptibility of power. The Emperor was never supposed to live up to the hype; even within the story, he’s supposed to be a let-down. Walken’s performance may not have been particularly striking or memorable, but that was an intentional choice on director Denis Villeneuve’s part, because it would’ve detracted from the message if he was an omnipotent badass.

Christopher Walken’s Performance As Emperor Shaddam Has Been Widely Criticized

Almost everything about Dune: Part Two has been universally praised: Hans Zimmer’s mesmerizing score, Greig Fraser’s breathtaking cinematography, the spectacular battle sequences, the increased focus on Chani to show Paul’s downfall from her perspective. But one part that’s been widely criticized is Walken’s turn as the Emperor. Whereas cast members like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Javier Bardem all give otherworldly performances in line with Villeneuve’s vision, Walken essentially plays the Emperor as Christopher Walken in space. He seems to phone in a lot of his scenes and his Queens accent feels out of place in this spice-addled sci-fi universe.

There’s nothing that differentiates Walken’s performance in Dune: Part Two from his performance as Captain Koons in Pulp Fiction or Morty, the Angel of Death, in Click. He doesn’t ham it up as much as he did with his portrayal of James Bond villain Max Zorin in A View to a Kill, but at least that hammy turn was memorable. In Dune: Part Two, Walken’s performance is decidedly unspectacular. But where most of the film’s critics have pointed that out as a bad thing, it was actually the best way to play the character for this story.

Walken’s Emperor Isn’t Meant To Be A Traditional Powerful Villain In Dune 2

In Dune: Part One, the Emperor is set up as the big bad of the Dune universe. This created expectations of a near-unstoppable villain like Thanos or the Night King or Emperor Palpatine, so Walken’s subdued performance arrived as a disappointment. But Shaddam isn’t supposed to be a villain like Thanos or the Night King; he’s supposed to be a subversion of that kind of big bad. Throughout the Known Universe, he’s prophesized as a Thanos-like big bad, but in reality, he’s really not that smart or powerful. He just seems exhausted after years of tyranny.

The Emperor is controlled by the Bene Gesserit, and even Irulan seems more capable than him. Baron Harkonnen even described the Emperor as a “jealous old man” in the first film, so the stage was set for Shaddam to have an underwhelming introduction in the second one. Thematically, this ties into Paul’s “Lisan al Gaib” arc. He worries he can’t live up to the prophecies that promised his arrival; by the same token, the Emperor doesn’t live up to the legend surrounding him.

Christopher Walken Is Actually Perfect For Dune 2’s Version Of The Emperor

Quibbles about his accent or speaking patterns aside, Walken’s performance as the Emperor is actually perfect for what Villeneuve set out to do with Dune: Part Two. He might sound like a New Yorker in space, but Walken does make the Emperor look like a much weaker character than is usual for the big bads of these kinds of action-packed sci-fi franchises – and that’s a good thing. Dune isn’t supposed to be another archetypal sci-fi story hitting all the familiar beats with the same character templates seen in countless other sci-fi stories.

Frank Herbert set out to upend the clichéd conventions of sci-fi narratives with a more realistic tale of intergalactic intrigue. In the real world, powerful tyrants and publicly shamed villains never amount to the myths about them; no matter what rumors or legends are spread about them, everyone is ultimately just a vulnerable human being. That’s how Walken played the Emperor in Dune: Part Two, and it was much better than if he’d just played Shaddam as Palpatine.