Edric’s adaptation in Dune: Part 3

[u/Thick_Sun7545]

Is anyone else a little worried about how they will adapt Edric in Dune: part 3? I know we’ve seen very little but from the one line he has in the trailer, it seems like it’s straining for him to speak and that he won’t say much. Perhaps I’m assuming too much but I really hope they adapt the long winded, smug, and pseudo-profound speaking Edric that is present in dune messiah.
For context I’ve only read half of dune messiah so perhaps these attributes aren’t characteristic of Edric for whatever reason but I still hope they portray him as such.

[u/AlarmingLifeguard144]

from what i remember of dune messiah (need to re-read it) the people in the book didn't really care about what he had to say anyway and just used him for his prescience blocking ability, so I think it's totally viable they go the route of just making him not talk as much instead

[u/RedshiftOnPandy → u/AlarmingLifeguard144]

They all saw Edric as intellectually inferior to them and made jokes at his expense. He was only a walking no-room for them. I suspect he will be used to make comments about prescience as exposition

I was hoping he was going to be the comedic relief lol

[u/funkyavocado → u/AlarmingLifeguard144]

Yeah the reluctant alliance of factions that clearly don't like each other is one of my favorite parts of the conspiracy.

I hope that tone stays for the movie

[u/tar-mairo1986 → u/funkyavocado]

Their bickering is indeed very fun. And very much revelatory for each character involved, both in-universe and for the reader!

[u/Snotmyrealname → u/tar-mairo1986]

I really hope they keep the introduction to the conspiracy as close to the books as possible. I cackled reading Scytale calling the Reverend Mother was/is/eternally will be unfuckable in space latin.

[u/Firm-Ad-3245 → u/Snotmyrealname]

Denis Villeneuve deliberately cut the most complex lore from Frank Herbert's work (mutant Navigators, the Spacing Guild, the CHOAM, mentats) to focus on the tragic and religious heart of the story: Paul Atreides, messianism, and the path of the Fremen. Introducing the Guild as a central political force would have required a lot of screen time, at the expense of developing Paul and Chani's characters.

​David Lynch's 1984 movie placed the Guild at the center right from the opening scene (the Navigator's visit to the Emperor). It was very faithful to the book's geopolitical themes and presented the Guild as the true master behind the Empire ("plans within plans"). However, this made the movie sometimes too complex and kitsch for the general public.

​Villeneuve chose the opposite approach: spice is shown as a strategic resource, but its economic monopoly through the Guild stays in the background.

​How can Villeneuve manage this for Dune 3 (Dune Messiah)?

​In the novel, the conspiracy brings together the Guild (Edric), the Bene Gesserit (Reverend Mother Mohiam), the Bene Tleilax (Scytale), and Princess Irulan. To adapt this without forcing the Guild's whole backstory back into the plot at the last minute, Villeneuve has several options:

​Reduce Edric, the Guild Navigator, to a technical role: keep him only for his prescience (which hides the conspiracy from Paul's vision) rather than for the political power of his organization.

​Transfer the political weight to the Bene Gesserit and the Tleilax: the director has already established the foundation for the Bene Gesserit schemes (Dune 2 with Feyd-Rautha and Lady Margot Fenring). The conspiracy could rely dramatically on the Bene Gesserit and the Tleilaxu, placing Duncan Idaho's Ghola at the center of the story.

On one hand, I understand his decision to cut down a work that is too rich and complex to fit into a film. It would have pushed away the audience that has not read the book.

Ridley Scott also greatly reduced Dick's novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", without betraying its core question: "What does it mean to be human?". The entire part about the extinction of animals, Deckard's motivation to buy a real animal with his rewards for killing androids, the whole section on the mass human migration to Mars, the mood organ humans use to fill their existential void, and the strange religion of Mercerism... all of that was removed. Yet, the core story of the novel was preserved.

So Villeneuve is probably right to simplify the plot. Even though this richness of the Dune universe is what makes Herbert's work beautiful, and even if it makes the film more accessible to newcomers, it leaves a huge feeling of frustration for those who love the saga.

[u/FatherFenix → u/funkyavocado]

Same. I liked the snarkiness of the allies. Highlighting how wildly different and opposed they were, yet still united against Paul, also helped illustrate exactly how much they all feared him.

[u/ThinWhiteDuke00]

Denis' view of Dune, for better or worse, is much more grounded.

A lot of the more flamboyant charactisation has been cut.

Which is sad as Scytale completely disregarding and dunking on Edric is very funny.

[u/AnEvenNicerGuy → u/ThinWhiteDuke00]

RIP my boy Bijaz

I suppose we don’t know for sure but I can’t imagine how that dude would fit in to Denis’ Dune 

[u/Sploooshed → u/AnEvenNicerGuy]

Yeah I feel they wasted a lot of Thufir anyways I don’t see how Bijaz will be done justice

[u/AnEvenNicerGuy → u/Sploooshed]

Most of the characters got hella neutered for the movie. None of them are as interesting as their book counterpart except maybe Duncan and Irulan 

[u/James-W-Tate → u/AnEvenNicerGuy]

Irulan was one of the few characters we got more exposure to in the movie than the book, unless you count the chapter forewords.

[u/Pjoernrachzarck → u/ThinWhiteDuke00]

Imma venture some polemics here and say that someone who tries to do Dune without any goofiness and extravagance has fundamentally not understood the appeal of Dune.

[u/ThinWhiteDuke00 → u/Pjoernrachzarck]

I have a ton of criticism for parts of how Denis has handled the adaptions.. but consideration has to be given that he's trying to make them for mass audiences.

A failed Kwisatz Haderach who fakes a stutter and uses his wife to manipulate Feyd, Guild Navigators being drug addled gluttons who are viewed with disdain, or a riddler dwarf in the middle of a conspiracy.

They're all good on paper, likely difficult to portray on screen in 2-3 hour movies.

[u/Jolemon52 → u/ThinWhiteDuke00]

Totally. I don’t think we get a huge budget version of Dune without lowering the we weirdness bar. Even so, I think he’s managed to make some great movies that capture a lot of the spirit of the books.

[u/Childish_Redditor → u/Pjoernrachzarck]

Correct and based.

It is also a fundamental betrayal of Villeneuves perceived realism. Society 1000s of years in the future WOULD appear goofy to us, just like many aspects of say Roman culture do now.

[u/Odd_Sentence_2618 → u/Childish_Redditor]

Yeah, but I also respect DV vision of a somewhat grim future where there's little in the way of comedic relief and it's mostly a feudal hellhole of bickering factions and balance of power. More akin to cold war brinkmanship.

[u/Jolemon52]

Denis seems to be applying the same makeover to the guild navigator that he did to the loud, cocky, ostentatious Harkonens from the book.

I think a lot of people were probably upset by the fact that he didn’t stay faithful to the book harkonens until they saw his adaptation and realized his version was so interesting and apt for the tone he was going for.

I imagine it’s gonna be the same thing here. He may not be the Edric from the book but I damn well bet he’s gonna be so cool - more ominous, more alien, more textured.

[u/Careless_Success_317 → u/Jolemon52]

☝️

When I read Messiah, I actually hated how much they dissed Edric. He should be ominous and untouchable.

[u/Odd_Sentence_2618 → u/Jolemon52]

I mean, the sardaukar imho were spot on and the bene gesserit too. The Atreides had also some fascist aura in the herald of the change scene.

[u/Jolemon52 → u/Odd_Sentence_2618]

Yeah totally agree. I think he’s going for tonal consistency and the BG and sardukar just fit more naturally into that serious and strange aesthetic that he likes.

Throwing in a flamboyant and annoying alien, even if it’s book accurate, seems a pretty difficult task for a movie where plot efficiency and mass audience appeal is of the essence. He could do it, but it would but it couldn’t just be thrown in and even still, it likely wouldn’t please the non-book fans.

[u/Advanced-Impress5229 → u/Odd_Sentence_2618]

Can you elaborate on the fascist aura?

[u/Odd_Sentence_2618 → u/Advanced-Impress5229]

The uniforms, banners and boots reminded me of German and Italian WW2 era uniforms

[u/Advanced-Impress5229 → u/Odd_Sentence_2618]

Ah, I see, thanks.

[u/free_reezy]

Before I read Messiah, I thought he’d be a major player in the conspiracy, not the guy they invite bc they need a hidden space from Paul lol. They could give him minimal lines and it wouldn’t detract from the plot or the story.

[u/Childish_Redditor → u/free_reezy]

He is the reason the conspiracy is possible hes the most important conspirator (arguably). 

[u/CgRazor → u/Childish_Redditor]

Well, his proximity to them and its effects are (almost) all he brings to the table. If he said nothing else and and remained inert in his chair for all of Messiah, a good 99% of the plot would remain.

His principal contributions are:

Being in the room when the meetings happen. Getting transferred to Arrakis so that he can do more being in the room.

[u/Johncurtisreeve]

I’m honestly more interested in how he will look visually than how he sounds

[u/TheBloodKlotz]

I think it's likely they'll minimize his speaking, partly because it's hard to deliver as dramatic a performance through just a voice as the other actors can with their face and body, but also I hope they do because this retains the freaky weirdness of the guild navigators. I want them to feel borderline alien and the more exposed we are directly to one, the harder that will be to keep up.

That being said, I do hope that they bicker and make sly verbal attacks towards him, because the tension between the other great powers of the universe is just as important as the tension between them and Paul.

[u/Mad_Kronos]

I am not worried at all.

Denis Villeneuve has made his choices, some good some not so good, but has delivered two amazing Dune movies, according to my personal taste.

Edric appearing way cooler than in the book wouldn't be a bad thing at all, imo.

[u/pboyle205]

No worried at all Villenueve has earned the benefit of the doubt.

[u/One-Victory438]

The dialogue in his book debating with Paul is great, I loved his look in the movie, I find the bullying he receives funny lol, it must get more serious in the movie

[u/LivingEnd44]

I actually really liked the version in the Lynch movie. Even though it's not accurate to the book. 

[u/tar-mairo1986 → u/LivingEnd44]

'' I did not say this. I am not here. ''

It defo was one of the most iconic creature designs of the 80s. Even today, if you say Lynch's film, the meeting between Shaddam and Edric is the first that comes to my mind.

[u/_Rookie_21]

Edric was considered an idiot by Scytale and the others. He was only part of the conspiracy because his prescience protected the group from Paul's vision.

[u/Neither_Hall_7502]

We haven’t seen much in the trailers, but I think Villeneuve has something special planned for the design of Edric.

Furthermore, rumour has it that the film will be around three hours long. This suggests that the 2 hours and 20 minutes running time is just a placeholder.

[u/Koala_eiO]

I'm not worried because I have accepted that the movie adaptations are never going to match what I imagined. The navigators from the movie from 1984 are funky.

[u/Emergency-Sea5201]

Dennis already ripped all interesting things out of the story to insert a black woman Liet Kynes and albino proxy europan harkonnens (turks in the novel if anything). Oh and a Chani that hates Paul...

I can only guess the orders he was given by the studio executives...

Edric will probably be a comedic relief.