Robert Pattinson Circling Shape-Shifting Villain Role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Messiah”
Austin Butler was a worthy villain and challenger to Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two, the second installment in a planned trilogy from director Denis Villeneuve. Butler played Feyd-Rautha, the swashbuckling, sociopathic goth princeling who took on Atreides at the end of Part Two, fighting as Emperor Shadam IV (Christopher Walken)’s champion and only barely losing. Now, reports are coming in that Robert Pattinson may be next in line to give Atreides a tough time in the third and final film, Dune: Messiah, possibly playing the villain Scytale from Frank Herbert’s 1969 novel “Messiah.”
Pattinson is currently filming Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and so far, no direct offer has been made. Attracting a star as big as Pattinson would be par for the course for Villeneuve, who has brought on not only Chalamet, Butler, and Walken for his Dune films but also Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Josh Brolin, and Jason Momoa, to name a few. Dune arrived in 2021, scooping up Oscars and a very commendable box office considering it was released mid-pandemic, and Dune: Part Two did even better in 2024, once again becoming a critical and commercial smash.
Herbert’s book “Messiah” is set 12 years after the events depicted in “Dune,” and finds Paul Atreides now ruling as Emperor and married to Princess Irulan (played by Florence Pugh in Dune: Part Two), while still maintaining a relationship with Chani (played by Zendaya in the first two films). Scytale is a “Face Dancer” from the planet Tleilax, which means he can physically change his appearance to mimic other people. He’s heavily implicated in a plot against Emperor Atreides and becomes a major co-conspirator and challenger to Paul’s rule, aligning with the Bene Gesserit, among others.
Villeneuve is putting the finishing touches on the script, and it’s expected to film this summer to meet a December 18, 2026, release date.
Featured image: LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 13: Robert Pattinson attends the “Mickey 17” World Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square on February 13, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)
