Warning: This article contains spoilers for Dune: Part 2.
Tim Blake Nelson has shared his heartbreak at having his character cut from Dune: Part 2 but says he had a “great time” filming the scene for Denis Villeneuve’s sequel.
The actor told MovieWeb he doesn’t have any ill feelings towards Villeneuve for making the difficult decision to leave his character out of Dune: Part 2 after filming the scene, as he understands the director “had to cut it” to order to shorten the movie’s runtime down to 2 hours and 46 minutes (including credits).
“I don’t think I’m at liberty to say what the scene was. I’d leave that to Denis [Villeneuve] if he wants to talk about it,” Nelson said. “I had a great time over there shooting it. And then he had to cut it because he thought the movie was too long. And I am heartbroken over that, but there’s no hard feelings. I loved it, and I can’t wait to do something else with him, and we certainly plan to do that.”
Nelson joined the star-studded cast of Dune: Part 2 in January of last year, though no-one knew who he would be playing, and he didn’t appear in the trailers for the sequel. Many speculated Nelson’s role would be that of Count Fenring, the husband of Léa Seydoux’s Lady Margot and one of the greatest swordsmen in the Imperium. In the Frank Herbert novel, Fenring is part of the Bene Gesserit’s scheme to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, but he proves to be a dead end because of his infertility.
Villeneuve may have felt it was simpler to leave Fenring out of the picture, but the decision to cut people from the film didn’t come easy. The director told EW he had to consider which characters best served the adaptation, and that, unfortunately, led to some “painful choices,” including the removal of Thufir Hawat.
“One of the most painful choices for me on this one was Thufir Hawat,” Villeneuve admitted. “He’s a character I absolutely love, but I decided right at the beginning that I was making a Bene Gesserit adaptation. That meant that Mentats are not as present as they should be, but it’s the nature of the adaptation.”
The movie adapts the second half of Frank Herbert’s Dune, but Villeneuve’s sequel stays loyal to the book by changing it while laying the foundation for a third film. A script for the next chapter was near-finished in December but has yet to be greenlit, though Dune: Part 2’s $81.5 million U.S. box office debut stands it in good stead.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.
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