Everything you need to remember about Dune: Part One to get ready for Dune: Part Two

It’s been two years, five months, and four days since Dune: Part One was released in theaters, but who’s counting? After a strike-induced delay, the sequel’s fall 2023 release date was scrapped. The story will finally continue when Dune: Part Two opens on March 1. If you haven’t watched the first installment of Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious take on Frank Herbert’s iconic sci-fi saga recently, or you just need a little help keeping the dense mythology straight, read on. We’ve put together a handy primer that will catch you up on everything that’s happened so far.

Who are the major players in this story? What do they want? And where do they stand? To make things simple, we’ve divided all this information into sections based on the Great Houses of the Dune universe and a few other groups that will have a vital role to play in the next film. With so many new characters about to be introduced in Part Two, it couldn’t hurt to head into it with a thorough understanding of the ones we’ve already met.

House Atreides

When the story begins, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Issac) has just been given jurisdiction over the highly lucrative spice mines on the planet Arrakis. Spice is essentially a drug with psychotropic effects, but its main value is that it makes interstellar travel possible. As the saying goes, “The spice must flow,” so the duke packs up his household and moves them all to the dangerous desert planet to oversee their new operations.

As the only source of spice, Arrakis is of great strategic importance to the intergalactic governing body known as The Imperium. Although it may seem like being awarded the stewardship of it would be a good thing for House Atreides, in fact they’re actually being set up to fail. Emperor Shaddam IV has been getting jealous of Leto’s popularity with the other Great Houses—all except for one—and forced the transfer just to piss off their greatest enemy, House Harkonnen. The Harkonnens have been running things on Arrakis and making a killing in the spice trade for the past 80 years, so they’re none too pleased to give it up.

Leto’s consort is Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a member of the Bene Gesserit order (more on them later). She is part of their long con to bring forth a savior into the world, but to achieve this she’s been given instructions to only bear daughters. Instead, she chose to give birth to a son (because Bene Gesserit women can do that). That’s put her on the outs with her order, but some believe she may have succeeded in bearing the chosen one known as the Kwisatz Haderach, “a mind powerful enough to bridge space and time, past and future.”

And then there’s their son Paul (Timothée Chalamet), who carries the burden of being the sole heir to his house, and possibly the foretold messiah too, without ever getting a say in either destiny. He’s been training for both paths his entire life. He has some of the mental abilities of the Bene Gesserit, including visions and prophetic dreams, but he’s also a skilled fighter. When he gets to Arrakis, the signs that he is indeed the Kwisatz Haderach, or Lisan al-Gaib in the local vernacular, start to add up.

Not long after their arrival, House Atreides is betrayed and attacked by House Harkonnen, now in league with the Emperor’s own elite troops, known as the Sardaukar. Paul and Jessica manage to escape, but Leto is captured. His final act of self sacrifice is to try at take out Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and as many of his men as possible via a fake tooth filled with poison gas. Many of them die, including Leto, but the baron survives.

Paul and his mother, who’s in the early stages of pregnancy, are left in the desert to die, but they’re discovered by a group of indigenous people, known as Fremen. One of them is Chani, a woman Paul has been seeing in his dreams (but he wisely doesn’t tell her that), played by Zendaya. The Fremen are wary of outsiders, and Paul is forced into a hand-to-hand combat with one of them, which he wins. So they agree to take in both him and his mother.

House Harkonnen

The leader of the House is Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, a rotund and vicious fellow who vows vengeance against House Atreides for taking Arrakis from him, just as the Emperor planned. Before leaving the planet they sabotage the spice production equipment to keep their enemies from seeing any profit any time soon. Then the baron teams up with the Emperor to take back Arrakis and destroy his rivals in the process. He’s also got a side deal with the Emperor’s own Bene Gesserit Truthsayer (Charlotte Rampling), who makes him promise to spare Paul and Jessica in the attack. He gets around that by not killing them directly and hoping the desert will do his work for him. After taking back Arrakis, he leaves his vicious nephew Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista) in charge.

The Bene Gesserit

Think of them as an order of witchy nuns with psychic powers. They supposedly serve as partners to the Great Houses, but as Paul puts it, they “steer the politics of the Imperium from the shadows.” Their abilities include prophecy, mind control, and compelling anyone to do as they command through the use of a technique called “the voice.” Their skills aren’t usually taught to males, with the exception of the Kwisatz Haderach. It’s considered a transgression that Jessica trained Paul in The Way without having confirmed that he actually is the chosen one first.

Before leaving for Arrakis, Jessica gets a visit from The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, her former teacher and the same Truthsayer who will call on House Harkonnen later on. The Reverend Mother gives Paul a “box of pain” test to determine the extent of his abilities and willpower. After he passes the test she grants that he may indeed be the chosen one, but she’s keeping her options open.

The Fremen

The native inhabitants of Arrakis live in underground communities called sietches, where they practice traditions honed over thousands of years to help them survive the dangerous conditions of their homeword. They’ve developed intricate technology, like still suits that filter and preserve the moisture from their bodies, allowing them to cross the hot, dry desert unharmed. They also have a reverence for the sandworms that populate the planet (and also make for interesting popcorn bucket designs), which they call Shai-Hulud. Their constant exposure to spice gives them deep blue eyes and health benefits like heightened awareness and longevity. The Harkonnens estimated that there were approximately 50,000 of them on the planet, but their numbers are actually closer to a million.

Leto’s plan was to make an alliance with the Fremen and hopefully rely on their support in the inevitable conflict with House Harkonnen. Paul, who is now the new duke following his father’s death, is determined to finish what he started. But he has a vision of a future “holy war spreading across the universe like unquenchable fire” that will be fought in his father’s name.

The next film picks up shortly after the first ended, with Fremen tribe leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) leading Paul and Jessica to a settlement called Sietch Tabr. There are already whispers among the party that Paul may be a mythological figure known as “the Mahdi,” a stranger from another world who will lead them to paradise. This legend is actually the work of the Bene Gesserit, who began seeding the idea into the Fremen religion many generations ago for their own purposes. It’s something Paul will eventually have to come to terms with, whether he wants to or not. The strength and skills of the Fremen will come in handy when the time comes to once again go up against the forces of House Harkonnen.