Dune: What You Need To Know Before Buying Your Theater Tickets

Graphic by Abigail Fay

Mark your calendars and grab your popcorn (with extra butter of course) — Dune premiers next Friday, Oct. 22. Sure, you can show up to the theater only knowing it stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya and still probably have an enjoyable experience. But the film highlights so much more than just Chalamet’s jawline. In the books that inspired the film, author Frank Herbert constructed an alternate universe complete with its own language, politics, ethnicities, cultures, and even science. 

For all those who couldn’t read all 863 pages of the first “Dune” book (we know it’s thicc), we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you. Here’s what you need to know about the Dune universe to impress your friends. No citations necessary- this clout’s on us.

The General Setup

Dune takes place thousands of years in the future, where technology has advanced so far that people travel across planets (and yes, Herbert’s novels inspired the Star Wars universe). The planet Dune, also known as Arrakis, produces the most valuable material in the galaxy, “Spice Melange,” and whoever consumes it becomes omniscient and, if you ingest enough, can guide spaceships across the galaxy. Sounds great, right? Well, it’s highly addictive, turning addicts’ eyes blue (i.e. all the creepy blue eyes you’ve seen in the trailers). Because of its value, controlling the spice means controlling the universe. The caveat is that the spice is only generated on Dune, and the planet has little to no water, making it virtually uninhabitable.

Enter the gray full-body suits. Known as stillsuits, they trap, filter, and repurpose the body’s moisture from sweat, blood, and even waste. Water means so much to Dune’s culture that crying when mourning someone is a gesture of great respect and humility.

The novel begins with the royal Atrieds family, including the son, Paul (Chalamet’s character), moving to Dune to attempt to live there, cultivate life, and control the harvesting and distribution of the spice in a more ethical way than the current spice monopolist, the Harkonnens, do. However, like all great plans, things change.

Who’s Who

Paul Atrieds, his father Duke Leto, and his mother Lady Jessica all come from the planet Caladan. Lady Jessica is a part of the Bene Gesserit, a pseudo-religious, all-female organization with the superhuman ability to control every nerve, muscle, and fibre of their bodies. Across the universe, many legions of these kick-ass women train in special bene gesserit schools in the art of battle and mind control, and Lady Jessica trained Paul in a lot of their practices. 

The Harkonnens are the villains. Vladimir Harkonnen is the main antagonist of the first novel and is against the Atrieds because he also wants to conquer Dune and control the spice. 

The Sardaukar are a breed of notorious warriors from planet IX and the best fighters in the universe. Their planet doubles as a prison because of its hostility (kind of like Azkaban for all you Harry Potter buffs out there). 

Mentats are humans that are programmed like a computer. They retain and implement data and their masters use them as political advisors. 

Finally, we have the Fremen, Dune’s natives. And living on such a desolate planet has made them extremely badass. The rest of the universe believes only a couple thousand Fremen exist on Dune, but we learn that that is very wrong. Chani, Zendaya’s character, is a Fremen. These people know the ways of their planet better than anyone, and Paul must earn their trust and join forces with them to defeat the Harkonnens, freeing Dune from their reign.

To Conclude...
We are not saying that Timmy and Zendaya are not enough to make the movie good. Far from it. But Herbert built so much more to this world than just the two sexy protagonists, and to walk away from the film only starstruck by the leads would be a crime. Obviously, we at Jerk highly recommend reading the books, but if not, hopefully this snapshot into the Dune universe was enough to elevate your movie-going experience and fill in some gaps you may have about this highly complicated, yet fascinating, alternate world.