Florence Pugh plays Princess Irulan, an important book character, in Dune: Part Two. But, the sequel repeats an annoying mistake from the first film.
SUMMARY
- Florence Pugh’s role as Princess Irulan in Dune 2 is disappointingly small compared to expectations set by her casting.
- Irulan’s character receives more development in the movie, but her overall presence remains minor compared to other characters.
- Dune 3 will likely give Florence Pugh a larger and more important role, avoiding the same mistake of underusing her talent seen in Dune 2.
Florence Pugh’s addition to Dune: Part Two was one of the movie’s most exciting developments, but her role as Princess Irulan is ultimately disappointing. Due to Denis Villeneuve’s decision to split Frank Herbert’s first Dune book into two movies, it was clear early that Irulan would be among the new characters introduced in the sequel. Dune 2‘s castexpanding to include her became a major deal once Florence Pugh was brought aboard the sci-fi franchise, adding her as one of Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya’s co-stars.The timing of Florence Pugh’s casting in Dune 2 as Princess Irulan was perfect for her and the franchise. She officially joined the production in early 2022, just two years after earning her first Oscar nomination for Little Women and a year removed from co-starring in Black Widow. This made the sequel all the more exciting, as the film suddenly found another great rising performer who has only become more popular since then. It was only natural to think that Pugh would be a major player in Dune 2‘s ending or have an increased role compared to Irulan’s book presence.
Florence Pugh’s Dune 2 Role Is Surprisingly Small
The size of Florence Pugh’s role in Dune 2‘s story and to what capacity Irulan is involved is where the movie gets slightly surprising. The princess of House Corrino is far from a main character in the book, as her biggest contribution is through excerpts of her writings at the start of each book chapter. However, splitting Dune into two movies gave Denis Villeneuve more time to bring the story and characters to life, expanding on various ideas from the page. By casting an actress of Pugh’s stature, it seemed likely that Irulan was in store for a larger role.
Irulan is still an important character as far as the plot of Dune 2 is concerned. Her relationship with the Bene Gesserit and thoughts on what is happening on Arrakis are shown, while Paul proposing to marry her in the end is a big development. Some of this does mean that Dune 2makes Irulan a more well-developed character than the book, but her overall presence is still quite small compared to others. Florence Pugh does a good job playing the intelligent princess too, leaving the impression that there is much more to explore with her than allowed.
Dune 2’s Treatment Of Florence Pugh Is Worse After The First Movie
Florence Pugh’s smaller role in Dune 2 could have been expected on some level due to Irulan’s presence in the book and viewed as a sign of setting up the franchise’s future. However, this is the same mistake that the series made already. 2021’s Dune brought Zendaya aboard to play Chani, the Fremen girl from Paul’s visions. Between Zendaya’s roles in Euphoria and the MCU, excitement was quite high to see how she’d factor into the film. This made the revelation that she was really only in the film for a few minutes near the end incredibly disappointing.
Considering how strong of a response came from Dune wasting Zendaya with a small role, the hope was that Dune 2 would not repeat the same mistake with Florence Pugh. Villeneuve could have found ways to increase Irulan’s role even more so that audiences would feel satisfied with how much screen time Pugh has. By not doing this, it makes how Dune 2 uses her talents feel even worse. The signs were already there that this could be a complaint about the film, but the sequel repeated the first movie’s mistake instead of doing something to fix it.
Dune 3 Won’t Make The Same Mistake With Florence Pugh
The good news is that the franchise is already in a great position to avoid making the same mistake of giving Florence Pugh a small role in Dune 3‘s story. The planned third Dune movie will be an adaptation of Dune: Messiah, the second book in Frank Herbert’s series. This is great for Florence Pugh because Irulan plays a much bigger role in Messiah than she did in the first novel. Dune 2 already set up a piece of this with her set to marry Paul Atreides, but that is only the beginning.
Dune 2 is the blueprint for Dune 3 giving Florence Pugh the level of role she deserves. Chani went from a minor character in the first movie to arguably being the co-lead of the sequel, giving Zendaya a much richer character to explore. It would seem as though Villeneuve plans to do the same with Irulan, having her go from a limited presence in Dune: Part Two to one of the most important characters in a Dune: Messiah adaptation. If that is the case, then the trilogy capper can help make up for any disappointment that came with Pugh here.