How Dune Changed Liet Kynes Death (& Why)

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune changed Liet Kynes’ death, and here’s how it compares to Frank Herbert’s novel and why it is different now. Several decades after David Lynch’s failed adaptation of Dune, Villeneuve’s movie has proven to be a more successful attempt at bringing the dense source material to life. This came as a result of the director doing a better job of sticking to Herbert’s novel, even though Dune includes plenty of differences to the books.

One of the many changes Villeneuve made to Dune became clear as the massive cast was announced. Most of the attention went to Timothée Chalamet playing Paul Atreides, Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson playing Paul’s parents, and Zendaya playing his love interest, Chani. However, 2021’s Dune brought a big change for the character of Liet Kynes. In the original book, Kynes is a man and the father of Chani. Villeneuve kept Liet Kynes’ role as Imperial Planetologist of Arrakis and the Judge of Change, but Dune‘s cast included Sharon Duncan-Brewster, a Black woman, in the role. Despite this change, Liet Kynes served a similar role in Dune as the books, including dying after helping the Atreides family. However, Dune changed how and why Liet Kynes died.

In Frank Herbert’s Dune novel, Liet Kynes is effectively sentenced to death by House Harkonnen. Liet Kynes became loyal to House Atreides during their short reign on Arrakis and became known as an accomplice of theirs. When the Harkonnens and Sardaukars returned to the spice-rich planet to reclaim control, Kynes was kidnapped by them due to his loyalty to House Atreides and his role with the Fremen. The Harkonnens elect to abandon Kynes in the desert without any water or a stillsuit. The unbearable conditions of the desert led to him developing heat exhaustion, dehydration, and delirium. Liet Kynes’ death then came due to his weakened physical form not allowing him to escape a spice storm.

The prolonged and near-torturous death Liet Kynes experienced in the book is quite different from how Dune‘s events transpire. Her death comes after helping save Paul and Lady Jessica from the Harkonnens and Sardaukars who attacked them. Kynes believes that they’ve successfully outrun the soldiers and is preparing to ride one of Dune’s important sandworms away. However, some Sardaukars followed her and one stabbed her in the back before she knows they are there. Kynes doesn’t let the soldiers get the best of her, though, as she begins pounding on the ground to draw the sandworm’s attention. This leads to the creature eating her and the Sardaukars who attacked her.

As for why Denis Villeneuve’s Dune changed Liet Kynes’ death, it could have been an effort to give the character a bit more agency in her exit from the story. In this new version of the story, Kynes manages to take down a few of her attackers and avoids being tortured as part of House Harkonnen’s plot. There’s even a small chance that this could’ve been done as a way to give Villeneuve a way to keep Kynes around. It’s always possible Dune 2 will reveal Kynes survived her stab wound and falling into the sandworm’s mouth, but that’s only necessary if more changes to her story are coming. Liet Kynes served her purpose in Dune‘s story already, so changing her death further would be more evidence of Villeneuve’s franchise differentiating itself from Frank Herbert’s book series.

About The Author

Cooper Hood
(5616 Articles Published)

Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.

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