Dune 2’s Margot Fenring Actress Has A Surprise Franchise Connection Going Back 52 Years

Dune: Part Two introduced audiences to Lady Margot Fenring actress Léa Seydoux, who has an interesting connection to the franchise. Lady Margot plays a crucial role in Prelude to Dune and also appears in Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. However, Lady Margot was omitted completely from David Lynch’s 1984 Dune movie and has a limited presence in Denis Villeneuve’s sequel. Nevertheless, the Bene Gesserit agent is an undeniably important character. Many of Lady Margot’s decisions and actions yield incredibly powerful effects on the Dune universe at large and set various plot events in motion.

Given her absence in Dune: Part One, Léa Seydoux’s Lady Margot deviates from the character in the book. In Herbert’s Dune novel, the Bene Gesserit agent is the one who suspects Paul is still alive, but this is attributed to Princess Irulan in Dune: Part Two. Léa Seydoux’s Lady Margot storyline in Dune: Part Two essentially focuses on her seduction of Feyd-Rautha to preserve the Harkonnen bloodline. Regardless, the French actress portrayed Lady Margot’s character perfectly as described in the book. Seydoux also has a weird connection to Jodorowsky’s Dune, the infamous Dune film that never was.

Léa Seydoux’s Great Uncle Was A Producer On The First Ever Dune Movie

Director Alejandro Jodorowsky, who was expected to direct the first ever Dune movie in the 1970s, planned to create a major motion picture starring several famous faces, including Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, and even Salvador Dalí. He also hoped to depict Lady Margot’s storyline in full so as not to exclude any plot points from Herbert’s Dune novel. Unfortunately, the project collapsed during development and was replaced by David Lynch’s 1984 Dune film. Had Jodorowsky’s Dune come to fruition, he would have worked closely with French producer Michel Seydoux.

In a weird full circle moment, Michel Seydoux is the great uncle of Lady Margot actress Léa Seydoux. Much like his great niece’s fictional character operates in the shadows in Dune: Part Two, Michel played an important behind-the-scenes role in producing Jodorowsky’s Dune movie. Michel, whose production company owned and distributed one of Jodorowsky’s previous projects, expressed interest in working with the director again. Knowing that Jodorowsky’s unmade Dune movie would be an expensive undertaking, Jodorowsky asked Michel to purchase the rights to move forward with the project. Michel enthusiastically signed on.

Why Jodorowsky’s Dune Never Happened

In the early 1970s, with help from Seydoux, Jodorowsky embarked on his most ambitious project yet: the first Dune movie. Michel secured Dune’s star-studded cast and Pink Floyd for its soundtrack. Unfortunately, after over two years in development, Jodorowsky’s Dune stalled due to financial reasons. Between its cast, score, and allegedly 20-hour script, the cost of Jodorowsky’s Dune was severely inflated, and Michel could not find a studio willing to support the project. Jodorowsky’s Dune rights eventually lapsed in 1982, leading producer Dino De Laurentiis to purchase Dune and pursue a collaboration with director David Lynch.

Although Michel Seydoux and Jodorowsky’s Dune film collapsed, the saga came full circle 52 years later when Lady Margot actress Léa Seydoux joined the cast of Dune 2. This weird franchise connection is also a meaningful one, though. Dune: Part Two marks Lady Margot’s film debut, and Jodorowsky’s failed Dune movie placed a bigger emphasis on Lady Margot than Lynch’s actualized version – which omits the character entirely. Despite the delay in bringing Lady Margot to life, it’s poetic that actress Léa Seydoux has a connection tracing back to the first-ever Dune movie.