Dune: Part Two: Where is Thifur Hawat? | indy100

Backstage w/ Dune Part Two

Fox - 26 Houston / VideoElephant

Dune fans have been left disappointed after learning one of the key characters from the book and the first movie will not feature in Denis Villeneuve's highly anticipated sequel, Dune: Part Two.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Dune: Part Two.

Fans of the first movie will fondly remember Stephen McKinley Henderson's character Thifur Hawat from the first film. In Dune lore, Hawat is a Mentat, a human-computer who is loyal to House Atreides. David Dastmalchian played the Harkonnen's Mentat, Piter De Vries in the 2021 film but the character was killed off.

In the book and the 1984 David Lynch adaptation, Hawat has a major character arc and is integral to the outcome of the story but that element of the tale will not be told in the new version.

According to Screen Rant, Henderson had filmed scenes for the movie but they were cut in favour of expanding the story of the Bene Gessirit sisterhood in the film which includes Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) Lady Fenring (Lea Seydoux) Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and Gaius Helen Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling). Tim Blake Nelson, who had also filmed scenes for the movie, was also cut.

Warner Bros

In an interview with Screen Crush, Villeneuve described his decision: "I was in love with Thufir Hawat. It’s a character that I absolutely adore. But I had to make the bold choice to make a Bene Gesserit adaptation, and to focus the movie on that sisterhood. I wish there was more Thufir Hawat. That’s what I would say."

While this would seem like a fair decision from the filmmaker's point of view, Hawat clearly had his fans and many of them are gutted to learn that they won't be seeing him return for the new movie.

i am being informed that there is no thufir hawat in dune two
— (@)

After 2 days my only gripe with Dune Part Two (not a spoiler because it\u2019s absent of the film) is that I felt wanting more. By that I mean Thufir Hawat and Count Fenring are completely cut and missing from the story. #Dune #DunePartTwo
— (@)

finding out that he isn\u2019t in dune: part two ruined my week
— (@)

Finding out that Thufir Hawat is not in Dune Part Two gives me anxiety\u2026 and rage.
— (@)

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THUFIR HAWAT ISN'T IN DUNE PART TWO \n\nI swear to god I am so looking for to this movie but like c'mon he was such an interesting part of the book's ending ugh Villeneuve is really testing my limits here
— (@)

As mentioned it would appear that scenes featuring Hawat were filmed so could eventually appear in a director's cut but something like that is unlikely to be released for several years.

In the meantime fans will just have to make do with the theatrical cut of Dune: Part Two which is released in cinemas worldwide on March 1st.

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