Léa Seydoux Is A 'Secret Agent' Of The Bene Gesserit In Dune 2
As the Great Houses fight among themselves and the Padishah Emperor lords over them all, the true power in the world of "Dune" lies with the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. Empowered by ancestral memory, superhuman mental abilities, and weapons like the Voice, the Sisterhood has agents all over the galaxy and plots to plant prophecies, engineer genetic outcomes through breeding programs, and generally shape the future of humanity according to their will — ostensibly, to create stability and steer away from chaos.
"Dune: Part Two" will introduce a new member of the Bene Gesserit: Lady Margot Fenring, played by Léa Seydoux. As readers of Frank Herbert's original novel will know, and as director Denis Villeneuve explains in a new Vanity Fair feature, Margot "will be a secret agent in the movie" and is "a character full of surprises."
In the book, Margot's presence is actually felt a lot earlier; she sends Lady Jessica Atreides (Rebecca Ferguson) a coded message warning her of the imminent betrayal of Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and the planned assassination attempt on Jessica's son, Paul (Timothée Chalamet). This element was cut from the first movie, however — presumably to streamline the story, since Lady Margot's warning doesn't change the course of events.
Lady Margot is married to Count Hasimir Fenring, a character whose casting hasn't yet been confirmed, but is widely speculated to be the role played by Tim Blake Nelson.
Who are the Bene Gesserit?
"Dune" featured two key members of the Bene Gesserit: the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) and Lady Jessica Atreides, the latter of whom had defied the Sisterhood at a crucial moment by giving Duke Leto Atreides a son instead of a daughter. According to the carefully-laid plans of the Bene Gesserit, Jessica should have given birth to a girl, who would then have married a Harkonnen and ended the blood feud between the Atreides and Harkonnen families. The offspring of that pairing would then have been a son: the Kwisatz Haderach.
The final product of centuries of genetic engineering, the Kwisatz Haderach can unlock the genetic memories of his male ancestors — inaccessible to the Bene Gesserit, who only have the memories of their female ancestors — giving him the ability to see all the branching possibilities of the future, and ensure that humanity followed the Golden Path. Jessica's disobedience meant that the Kwisatz Haderach was born a generation too soon, as Paul Atreides. The Bene Gesserit may not be happy about this, but as Villeneuve explained to Vanity Fair, Seydoux's Lady Margot is not a villain:
"The main goal of the Bene Gesserit is to make sure that humanity will move in the right direction ... The Bene Gesserit, they don't think about what's good or what is evil. That's not very important for them. What is important is to bring humanity to its full potential and to try to create a being that will bring humanity to enlightenment. It's their full agenda, which takes place over thousands of years of planning and controlling. They are the true masters of this world. Their biggest weapon is time. They see the world in centuries."
The pain of having to wait another six months for "Dune: Part Two" is proof that time is a powerful weapon. We'll see how Lady Margot wields it when the film arrives in theaters on November 3, 2023.