The impressive cast confirmed for Dune: Part III features some of the most powerful characters Frank Herbert ever created, each bringing their own unique strength to the final chapter of Denis Villeneuve's trilogy. The film features at least 10 powerful characters. Some are warriors raised in the remote desert, others bend politics, religion, and prescience to their will. Some are so close to divinity that the rest of the empire trembles at the mere mention of their names.
Dune: Part Three, an adaptation of Dune Messiah, takes place 17 years after the events of Dune: Part Two. It premieres in theaters on December 18th. Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet, now rules as Padishah Emperor, and his Holy War has engulfed the entire known universe. Surrounding him are a host of allies, conspirators, and family members with unique and intriguing abilities that make them extremely formidable adversaries.
Ranking the 10 strongest characters in Dune 3 by strength.
10. Chani
Zendaya's Chani is one of the most lethal Fremen characters featured in the trilogy so far. In Dune: Part Two, she's presented as a warrior, fighting on the front lines of the Arrakis War, gunning down Harkonnen soldiers, scaling cliffs, and battling sandworms alongside Paul. She's a master of the krisk knife, comfortable in a spacesuit for days on end, and possesses a level of desert survival training few aliens can match.
Her power is also tied to who she is. Chani is the daughter of Imperial planetologist Liet-Kains, a respected figure among the Fremen, and her connection to Paul gives her a rare opportunity to directly communicate with the Emperor. At the end of Dune: Part Two, she left him of her own free will, riding into the desert rather than bow before his throne, which speaks volumes about her independence and strong character.
9. Stilgar
In Dune: Part Three, Javier Bardem plays Stilgar, the Naib of Sietch Tabr and one of Paul's most loyal commanders. In the first two films, it was he who welcomed Paul and Lady Jessica, taught them the ways of the Fremen, and led the assault that crushed the Sardaukar at the climax of Dune: Part Two. His combat prowess is the result of decades of living in the remote desert, and he summons a sandworm with such confidence that it's simply astounding to watch.
Stilgar's danger in the third installment extends beyond personal combat. He enjoys the absolute loyalty of the Fremen legions Paul has brought to power, and his faith in Muad'Dib has blossomed into religious piety. This faith secures him the support of an entire army of saints, something few characters can boast.
8. Scytale
Robert Pattinson's Scytale is a new face on the battlefield in Dune: Part Three, and he poses a threat largely absent from the trilogy. As a Tleilaxu Face Dancer, he can shapeshift, mimicking the appearance of others to infiltrate all levels of Imperial security. Pattinson described him as an unusual character whose true allegiance remains unclear.
Skytal is a key player in the conspiracy against Pavel, along with the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Tleilax. His lethality lies in his ability to get closer to the Emperor than any traditional enemy and use the people Pavel loves against him.
7. Hite
Jason Momoa returns in Dune: Part III, but he plays Duncan Idaho differently than fans remember him from the first film. Hayt is a Tleilaxu gola, a creature grown in an axolotl tank from the dead flesh of the Atreides Swordmaster who died protecting Paul and Lady Jessica on Arrakis. He resembles Duncan, fights like Duncan, and has inherited his old fighting instincts, but he is a creature created by the Tleilaxu for the specific task of destroying Paul from within.
This job makes him a terrifying character even before the film begins. Hayt possesses the Ginaz swordsmanship that defined the original Duncan, and was further trained by the Tleilaxu as a Mentat, a humanoid computer capable of outwitting entire armies. In Dune Messiah, he is presented to Paul as a gift, but is also a hidden weapon, programmed to strike the Emperor when activated. Few characters in this universe combine such intelligence and such mastery of a sword.
6. Princess Irulan
Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan brings a whole new dimension of power to Dune: Part III. She is the eldest daughter of the deposed Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, a woman raised from childhood to one day ascend the Golden Lion Throne herself. In Dune: Part II, she is introduced as Paul's wife and imperial consort, a political symbol legitimizing his rule over the Landsraad after the fall of the Sardaukar.
Irulan also received training from the Bene Gesserit, which gives her control over her body through prana-bindu and the skills of patient manipulation that the order has been teaching its followers for decades. She moves through Paul's court with the air of someone who has studied every Imperial archive, knows every great house, and monitors every move in the political arena. She doesn't need to brandish a blade to be one of the most dangerous people in the room.
5. Gurney Halleck
Gurney Halleck, played by Josh Brolin, is one of the most lethal fighters in the entire trilogy. In the first Dune film, he is introduced as the Atreides master of arms and Paul's first martial arts instructor, the man who taught the future Emperor how to wield a knife and shield. In Dune II, he returns, leading smugglers into the desert, where he reunites with Paul, helps recover the Atreides family's atomic bombs, and fights on the front lines of the final assault on Arrakeen.
Gurney's power is brutal and direct. He's a veteran, hardened by a life that would break most men. He fights with a discipline few other characters in the trilogy can match, and his loyalty to House Atreides is absolute. In a story where most strong characters rely on foresight or politics, Gurney is the man you lay your sword before when all else fails.
4. Reverend Mother Gaia Helen Mohiam
Charlotte Rampling returns as Reverend Mother Gaia Helen Mohiam, and her role in Dune: Part Three is enormous. She is one of the highest-ranking figures in the Bene Gesserit order and was an Imperial Prophetess who served Shaddam IV before Paul's ascension. She is also the woman who, in the first film, placed a gom jabbar on the young Paul's neck—a test that confirmed he was something the Sisterhood had never seen before.
Mohiam possesses the full range of Bene Gesserit tools and decades more experience with them than almost anyone alive. The Sense of Truth, the Voice, prana-bindu control, and the Other Memory through the torment of spice—all are hers. She also speaks for the entire Sisterhood, meaning her power is not limited to personal interests. When she opposes the throne, she draws on the resources of the order, which has pulled the strings of the Imperium for millennia.
3. Lady Jessica
Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson, is one of the most powerful women in the trilogy. She is a Bene Gesserit acolyte who became a full-fledged Reverend Mother in the remote desert during the events of Dune: Part Two, having survived the torment of spice and transformed the Water of Life into a substance her body could withstand. This ritual unlocked the Other Memory, the inherited consciousness of every female ancestor in her line, and confirmed her place at the head of the Bene Gesserit order.
Jessica's abilities encompass nearly all Bene Gesserit disciplines. She possesses the Voice, which allows her to command others, and control her body through prana-bindu, making her a precise hand-to-hand combatant. She also personally trained Paul in these same arts from childhood. It was Jessica who, with a single move, disrupted the ten-thousand-year-old Bene Gesserit reproductive plan, giving Duke Leto a son instead of a daughter.
2. Alia Atreides
In Dune III, Alia Atreides, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, is the character closest to Paul's level. In Dune II, she was introduced as an unborn Alia speaking to Lady Jessica from the womb, and then returned in a vision shown to Paul as an adult woman in desert garb. In Dune III, she finally takes center stage.
Alia's powers are unlike any other in the trilogy. Lady Jessica drank the Water of Life during her pregnancy, meaning Alia was born with the full consciousness of a Reverend Mother. According to the source material, she possesses Other Memories from the moment of birth, having access to the inherited memories of every ancestor on both sides of her bloodline, including her grandfather, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. The Bene Gesserit are so unsettled by her presence that they refer to her as an Abomination. Taylor-Joy called her unique, and the role she occupies in the third installment is that of co-ruler of the empire, high priestess of the Pauline religion, and commander of the imperial forces. She is, in every sense of the word, a second emperor.
1. Paul Atreides
Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides is the most powerful character in Dune: Part III, and it's hard to argue with that. He is the Kwisatz Haderach, a male superbeing the Bene Gesserit tried to breed for millennia, but emerged a generation too early and escaped their control. He is also the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe, ruling from the Golden Lion Throne, waging a Holy War against the Fremen, and masterminding the spice melange that makes interstellar travel possible.
His abilities are comprehensive. As a Kwisatz Haderach, Paul can access the genetic memory of his line's ancestors, think with the analytical clarity of a Mentat, and transcend space and time with complete precognition. Dune: Part Two demonstrated just how far this precognition extended when he drank the Water of Life and saw every possible future simultaneously, and in Part III, his capabilities are further expanded. He is also a Bene Gesserit-trained fighter, having been tutored since childhood by Lady Jessica and receiving combat training from Gurney Halleck, Duncan Idaho, and the Fremen. In the eyes of his followers, Paul is part warrior, part prophet, and part god.