Dune: Where The F*ck Is Feyd?

Posted on by jamesworrad

Update 28/4/23: I’m having a lot of hits for this post now that Austin Butler is playing Feyd. I’m afraid this is an old post from before Dune Part One where I spitballed on why we hadn’t seen Feyd yet, so this is of probably little use to you, dear reader. However… looking at the post now it seems my theory was right. I love being smug.

Every fan of Dune will have no doubt taken immense interest in the cast of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation coming to our screens this December. It’s fair to say we’ve been proffered an embarrassment of acting riches. Gratifyingly, there’s been no crowbarring of major names into inappropriate roles, like Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise as Duke Leto or what-have-you. Even Jason Mamoa as Duncan Idaho is a natural choice when one stops and thinks about it, Aquaman and GOT be damned.*

*It seems Lynch movie fan service to have been avoided too, with no actors from that adaptation in this one. That said, I wouldn’t rule out Kyle Maclachlan popping up as the Emperor in the second movie, should it occur.

Timothee Chalamet as Paul is excellent casting, as is Zendaya as Chani. Oscar Isaac and Josh Brolin couldn’t mess up their roles (Leto and Gurney) even if you sent them to the wrong movie lot and stole their phones. My personal squee-generators are Rebecca Ferguson- fresh from her magnetic performance in Doctor Sleep- as Lady Jessica and Stellan Skargard (Chernobyl, Nymphomaniac and some Marvel thing, I dunno) as Baron Harkonnen.

But, weirdly, staggeringly, no name has been attached to one of Dune’s most iconic characters: the beautiful, blade-wielding narcissist Feyd Rautha, nephew to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. It’s been months since the rest of the main cast were revealed and still no sign.

Odd, to say the least. Sting’s version of him was pretty much the poster boy of the 1984 movie. So what gives?

Way I see it, there’s several possibilities:

Feyd’s actor will be revealed in the next few days/weeks and this blog post will look super dumb. Yeah, let’s not think about that one.

Feyd’s actor is a total newcomer to movies/acting and so there’s no real point in revealing him. Could be, though as time goes on it seems less likely. I mean, by now we know who’s playing ‘First Trooper’, ‘Deaf Trooper’ and Sardukar 1, 2 and 3 (Thank you, IMBD) for heck’s sake. And it’s not like they haven’t picked anyone yet; the movie’s in the can.

The only reason I can see them covering up Feyd’s actor is if he’s some truly striking, unconventionally handsome-yet-icily-stunning figure, like a supermodel or an athlete or something. Or maybe another pop star, much like Sting back in the day (Christ. What if it’s Justin Bieber? That would be simultaneously the most godawful and most spot-on casting ever devised).

Nope, the more I think on it the more I believe ‘we just haven’t been told yet’ ain’t what’s cooking here.

Feyd Rautha has been entirely written out of the script. This… is actually quite feasible.

Apart from his vital actions in the very last scene (which, in truth-spoilers!- merely serves to validate and rounds off Paul’s character arc) Feyd doesn’t push the novel’s central plot along. He isn’t even in the novel all that much. People recall him as being central due to Sting’s ubiquity in the Lynch version’s posters etc.

Dune has a lot of characters. Which is fine for a 180,000 word book but not so much for a movie. Do we really need two nephews of the Baron? Hell, do we need two bad sisters in King Lear? Answer: No, actually, and Shakespeare would be the first to understand if you took one out. Feyd and Gonerill are wallpaper at the end of the day, not load-bearing walls.

Remove Feyd and you’re left with ‘the Butcher’ Rabban who is to be played by the ever-wonderful Dave Bautista. That’s a character who could be stretched to perform both nephews’ plot beats. Seriously. If Villenue makes Rabban a true monster, and I mean a real scary and magnificent bastard, then a duel between he and Paul will carry a immense weight. Can you imagine Bautista and Chalamet going toe-to-toe with knives? That’s one meaty-fucking-man-Everest for the latter to climb. A true climax to a franchise. Don’t pretend it wouldn’t be!

Feyd Rautha has been written out of the first movie but will appear in the second (Should it ever be made). Now there’s a thought. What better way to pop a bit of pizzazz into the second half of a movie franchise than a new bad guy?

There’s a lot to be said for holding Feyd back for a bit, perhaps only mentioning his name in the first movie, tantalising us like the hopeless tantalberries we are.

There’ll be room. The first half of the book wipes out a lot of faces. A second movie can make room for Feyd and Princess Irulian and The Emperor whereas in the first they would likely be clutter, if pretty clutter. If the first Dune movie is a success (Please let it be a success!) they’ll be the capital to inject a little star-power into those roles.

Yup. My bet is on this final possibility. My brain and my gut are in agreement on the matter, which is a rare day indeed.

But, hey, I could be wrong. It’s happened before. Like that time I went to Comic-Con cosplaying as shower-briefs Feyd from the eighties Dune movie. I’m still not allowed back in the San Diego area…

21 thoughts on “Dune: Where The F*ck Is Feyd?”

  1. Feyd can’t be written out without Breaking the diegesis of Dune.
    As according to the Bene Gesserit’s plan, he was supposed to marry the daughter of Leto and Jessica.
    He has been trained in combat by Bene Gesserit same as Paul, he IS the main threat to Paul in the novel.

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      1. I have been a die-hard Dune fan since i was a child and read all the books and ive never heard anyone refer to Rabban as “the Butcher ” , ive only heard him called The Beast Rabban , maybe someone mentioned him as A butcher but not thee butcher . And i dont really see Tye Sherian as Feyd Rautha . He seems to be too soft a character actor. Maybe thats just me ? They should have chosen someone like Dane Dehaan ? Someone more creepy but still more attractive than Tye Sherian..

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  2. I agree entirely with the idea of Feyd not being needed in a first film. In the same way there was no Gollum in the first LOTR apart for a couple of teasers, Feyd is not really needed in a first Dune movie. I think it is fundamental that Paul have an equally charismatic foe, and the Beast really doesn’t fill that. If there is no Feyd then they really are shitting on the cannon.

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    2. This post really contradicts itself….How can you say that Feyd isnt needed in the first film, when thats exactly how Paul won Arrakis back from House Harkonnen…just to say that ‘If there is no Feyd then they really are shitting on the cannon.’ I agree with the statement…But I am truly wondering…why would you say Feyd is not a req. for movie 1, and then make statements that support putting Feyd in the movie….considering how the novels play out, and how prior films also tell the story.

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  3. Have you read Dune? There’s rwo reasons I ask.
    1. Feyd is hugely important, he is the fake messiah of the Baron, who knows all to well about the prophecy and decides to send The Beast Raban to squeeze Arrakis’ people and spice! He will be a brutal leader! Then when Raban has caused great suffering Beautiful Feyd will come as the chosen and save the people from The tyranny of The Beast! Thus playing on the prophecy the Sisterhood implanted on Arrakis, so many years ago.

    2. Feyd doesn’t make much of an appearance in the first half of the book, except for a small scene where the Baron explains his plan for him. After, in the second half, the Lord And Lady Fenring attend a gladtorial event in which Feyd will make his 100th kill in the arena! They are there to observe him, this wouldbe father of the Kwizatz Haderach. Then later he is the Focus of Paul’s revenge against the Harkonnens at the end. He hasn’t been cast; I believe because he will first appear in the second movie.

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    1. margot fenring’s mission is to seduce feyd-rautha and conceive a daughter so as to preserve part of the bene gesserit breeding program (latin phrase; “dune” contextual translation: “when identified as necessary, every ‘i’ will be dotted, ‘t’ crossed, throat slit, innocent corrupted, virgin seduced and abandoned, paragon traduced, forgery adduced so that the scheme so wrought over long generations will conclude and will have been well done”); hasimir fenring’s mission is to assess vladimir harkonnen’s misrule of arrakis; feyd’s 100th is an atreides soldier captured in the overthrow of duke leto on arrakis

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    2. To which I’m arguing with the fact that the book simply has way too many intricate [plans within plans], to be introduced in the film. Plans which actually aren’t leading anywhere, but “whatifs”.
      🙂

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  5. Anybody ever notice that Feyd was the only person on Gede Prime that didn’t have a heart plug ? Even when Baron told Thufar ,oh i see they installed your heart plug , don’t worry , everyone here gets one .

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    1. I mean, the heart plugs were completely made up for the film version. Even then, Feyd-Rautha wasn’t actually from Giedi Prime; he and his brother were born on Lankiveil after his father Abulurd renounced the Harkonnen name and adopted his wife’s name of Rabban.

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  8. Feyd is terribly important, a central character. He is the object of the Barons’ paedophile desires, destined to fill the breach in the bloodlines, the antithesis of Muad Dib. To write him out or condense him and Rabban into one character is lazy writing. Rabban appears for a few pages. His importance serves to justify battle scenes that will make the movie spectacular but aren’t warranted. And where’s the sumuta addict? And Jamis and his wife? Jamis’ wife is incredibly important. Hawat wasn’t fat and Keynes was a man. It feels the main themes have been dismissed and replaced with “ooh, lots of sand, big worm and gender diversity.”

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  9. Zendaya is terrible.. She can’t act.. Examples, Spider-Man, greatest showman, kc undercover…she has no idea how to develop a character, they are all generic and predictable.. She has no depth, and her characters show it.. Absolutely awful casting.. Jason momoa is a terrible choice too.. He also has zero acting skills.. He’s not believable, and please don’t use GOT that character had no range and any idiot could have played it..

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    1. Jack, you’re leaving out many other shows those two were in 😉 In fact, I’d throw my money on the fact that you’re willfully being biased, not wanting to mention those precise shows in which they have been, in which they actually shine.
      Cheers!

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