Dune: Where Feyd-Rautha Is In Part 1 Explained

Austin Butler’s creepy and vicious villain Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen acted as one of the primary antagonists in Dune: Part Two, making his total absence from Dune: Part One somewhat perplexing. Feyd-Rautha makes his debut with an exhilarating gladiatorial battle in black & white shades under the black sun of Giedi Prime, the Harkonnen’s homeworld. From there, he quickly establishes himself as one of the greatest threats to the Fremen and the remaining fragments of House Atreides.

Everything about Austin Butler’s performance, from his unsettling voice to his depraved and sadistic interactions with his family, paints Feyd-Rautha as one of the better sci-fi villains of the last decade. It seems peculiar that he would be omitted entirely from Dune: Part One given the insight that viewers got into Harkonnens’ scheming against House Atreides. While he was not completely absent from either the novel the movies are based on or the Harkonnen plotting from Dune: Part One, there was a very good reason to keep him in the shadows early on in the cinematic saga.

Feyd-Rautha Is On Giedi Prime In Dune: Part One

The nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was on the Harkonnen homeworld.

The audience is introduced to Feyd-Rautha on Giedi Prime part of the way through Dune: Part Two, and chronicles his cruelty to others, seduction by the Bene Gesserit via Lady Margot Fenring, and his interactions with his uncle, who places him in command of the situation on Arrakis. Therein lies the answer to where Feyd-Rautha was in Dune: Part One: operating in the shadows back on the Harkonnen homeworld. Dune: Part One lends most of its screen time to the situation on Arrakis, which Feyd-Rautha had no involvement in.

This lines up fairly consistently with the source material, Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune. Dune: Part One covers the first half of the sprawling epic that plays out in the novel, and in that section of the story Feyd-Rautha has no meaningful role. While he makes a brief appearance in the first part of the novel, he doesn’t become important to the action until he is called upon to replace his older brother, the vicious Glossu Rabban, on Arrakis after he is unable to get spice production back online following the Harkonnens’ destruction of House Atreides.

Feyd-Rautha Wasn’t Necessary In Dune: Part One

Holding him back helped to build anticipation for his arrival in Dune: Part Two.

The powerful portrayal of Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part Two almost makes it seem as if Dennis Villeneuve was holding Austin Butler back, given that he didn’t appear until the midpoint of the sequel. However, with nearly 60 years of Dune lore and fandom in place since the release of the original novel, holding Feyd-Rautha back until he was at his most relevant helped to build the anticipation for his arrival. Establishing his brother’s violent, out-of-control style was also important to making Feyd-Rautha’s quieter, unsettling demeanor more impactful when he appeared as a direct contrast.

Dune: Part One was tasked with introducing the concept, the settings, and the major players involved with the Dune story, and there simply was no reason to cram Feyd-Rautha into it. Part One established Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as the “big bad” of the story, and also introduced Glossu Rabban as his primary weapon on Arrakis. Feyd-Rautha is a significant character, as the natural rival to Paul Atreides, so to briefly introduce him in Part One would have been a disservice to the character. Saving him for Dune: Part Two allowed for the much-deserved greater exploration of Feyd-Rautha.