It's one of our biggest science fiction anticipations: on December 16, 2026, Dune Messiah will finally be released in theaters, two years after the previous installment in the franchise. And it's a project all the more exciting since Robert Pattinson, the star of The Batman and Mickey Mouse 17, is expected to join the film's cast! His presumed role? The villain Scytale, a very strange character that we explain in detail below.
Robert Pattinson tipped to star in Dune 3
Currently starring in Mickey Mouse, the critically acclaimed new film by Bong Joon-ho (Parasite),Robert Pattinson once again confirms his desire of being - and remaining - elusive. The actor can play anything, including wacky, even grotesque roles, and he's not afraid to tarnish his image or twist it to better surprise the audience. What's surprising, then, that Denis Villeneuve is considering the star playing a villain in the sequel (and finale) of his saga dedicated to the world of Dune? According to our colleagues at Hollywood Reporter, it would be the villain Scytale, a strange and baroque character, whose characteristics detailed below will undoubtedly remind you of certain assassins from Game of Thrones. It seems that we are closer to seeing the actor in a new franchise than in the next installment of The Batman, unfortunately (when we could have had both!).
Who is Scytale?
As usual in Frank Herbert's work, this is not a character that can be described in a very clear way. He is a Face Dancer, a sort of human chameleon who can transform his appearance, gender, and voice at will. In the third novel in the Dune series, he appears as an enemy of Paul Atreides. Indeed, at the beginning of the story, Muad'Dib is threatened by a plot hatched by by Irulan, his despised and abandoned imperial wife, the Bene Gesserit, the Space Guild and the Tleilaxu. The latter are represented by Scytale, an antagonist of the "hero" (who will have definitively turned into a galactic tyrant by Dune Messiah), capable of identifying with his future victim. He feels pity and regret at the idea of Paul's death, but he has no choice.
Determined to trap Paul Atreides, he takes the appearance of Lichna, the daughter of Otheym, one of Muad'Dib's most loyal warriors. When Lichna's body is found lifeless in the desert, Scytale pretends to be the young woman to Paul (who has seen through the deception), explaining to him that his father wants to give him a Dwarf, Bijaz, and that he must find him in Sietch Tabr. He nevertheless accepts the proposal because of his gift of prescience, which compels him to do so. There, his enemies use atomic energy, a stone burner that destroys his eyes and makes him blind. But it turns out that, miraculously, he continues to see thanks to the power of his mind! An event that further reinforces his status as a God. Later, his mistress Chani, now pregnant with twins, gives birth, and loses her life giving birth to a son, Leto, and a daughter, Ghanima. Scytale takes advantage of the situation by negotiating the return to the life of his beloved in the form of a ghola in exchange for control of his Empire, but Paul refuses. He then uses the vision of his babies, present in the room, to kill Scytale.
A character with a dire destiny, which would once again offer Robert Pattinson the opportunity to shine with a limitless range of acting.
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