This Character Survives the Harkonnens in Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune,’ But You Won’t Find Him in ‘Dune: Part Two’

Dune: Part Two is out in theaters, but Dune fans may notice that one character has vanished.

In Dune: Part One, we meet Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who serves Leto Atreides (Oscaar Isaac) as a mentat: someone who’s been trained to act as a human computer. Thufir is close to Leto and Paul (Timothée Chalamet), accompanying them to Arrakis when they’re called to take over the planet’s Spice production operation.

In Dune: Part One, we see the fall of House Atreides, as House Harkonnen captures Leto and tries to eliminate Paul and Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). In Frank Herbert’s original novel Dune (spoilers ahead!) Hawat is captured by the Harkonnens, where Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (played in Dune: Part One and Part Two by Stellan Skarsgård) tries to brainwash him. However, Thufir resists, and tries to bring House Harkonnen down from within.

It’s not clear what happens to Thufir in Denis Villeneuve’s adaptations. He doesn’t appear at all in Dune: Part Two. However, Henderson was originally supposed to reprise his role as Thufir in Dune: Part Two. In fact, he got as far as filming scenes for the movie, which were cut.

In an interview with his alma mater, Purdue University, McKinley talked about his experience working with actors like Austin Butler, who plays the brutal Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Part Two.

“What I had the most fun with this last time was working with Austin Butler, who played Elvis recently …. Austin was so nice to me because I had a medical emergency during the shooting, and I had to go away. And when I came back … he played a character that was not very happy with me at all, and he was quite chilling, and I was giving him back the looks, but when they say, ‘Cut,’ he would come over and say, ‘Mr. Henderson, are you okay? Can I help you? Can I get you anything?’ And he was just so nice. And then we’d go back to roll and he went, ‘Ugh.’ He was on my case. So I just so appreciated Austin, a wonderful, wonderful person.”

The fact that McKinley had a scene opposite Butler means that the film may have more or less followed Thufir’s storyline in the book. However, even though Villeneuve described cutting Thufir and the mentats as “painful,” Thufir’s story will have to remain in audiences’ imaginations for now.

(featured image: Warner Bros.)