'Dune' Ending Explained: Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic saga is just the beginning
Contains spoilers for 'Dune'
It didn't come as a surprise that 'Dune' didn't have an ending. Such was the massive time spent on world-building that Denis Villeneuve has all but ensured that there has to be a sequel. His attempt to bring Frank Herbert's 1965 novel of the same name to life takes its own sweet time to establish storylines, and it does so scrupulously.
Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, has finally landed in Arrakis. With the Harkonnen and the Sardaukar teaming up, the House Atreides is forced to submission and death.
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'Dune' Ending Explained
By the end of the film, it is shown that Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) is dead. The film screams his imminent demise since the outset, but his death isn't all in vain as he takes a handful of Harkonnen with him as he gasps out his dying breath. His paralysis after being poisoned by Paul's teacher Dr. Yueh (Chang Chen) yields no fruit for the latter as he is murdered by Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard). However, when Leto vanquished the core of the Harkonnen, the Baron uses his shield and sticks to the ceiling only to recover after a long recovery bath in some black oil.
One of the more painful deaths is that of Jason Momoa's Duncan, Paul's mentor, and brother figure as he goes down fending off some skilled Sardaukar fighters. However, in what comes as a piece of good news, Josh Brolin's Gurney Halleck isn't shown to be killed leaving the door open for his potential return. Paul and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) escape only to find themselves at the hands of the Fremen. The leader of the group, Stilgar (Javier Bardem) promises safety, only for one of his men, Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) to oppose.
He proposes the Tahaddi, the fight to the death as a way to take things forward, and Paul steps in as Jessica's champion. And while he preps for the fight, he also meets Chani (Zendaya), the girl he has been dreaming about since the start and she offers him her Crysknife, the blade made of the teeth of a sandworm. The young heir, alien to killing ultimately manages to slay Jamis and is accepted by the Fremen as one of their own.
With the film ending in a bit of a baffling manner, there is hope that a potential sequel will lend some sort of conclusion to the grand epic that Villeneuve has created. There are quite a few questions — Is Paul really Muad'Dib, the Kwisatz Haderach? What do Paul's visions of himself with blue, glowing eyes mean? Will he avenge the deaths of his father and Duncan by killing Baron Harkonnen? A lot of unanswered questions, and no inkling of a sequel yet.
'Dune' is available for streaming on HBO Max
