Who is Jason Momoa playing in Dune 3?

2 weeks ago 23

Published Mar 17, 2026, 9:02 AM EDT

Jason Momoa's return in Dune 3 is part of a plot that connects all of Frank Herbert's books

Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, wielding two blades and surrounded by collapsed or collapsing soldiers in grey armor in Dune

Legendary Entertainment shared a series of character posters for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune 3 on March 16 to tease the film’s first trailer, which will be released on TikTok at noon ET on March 17. The first images from the film show Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) looking pretty rough. Alia, the baby Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) was pregnant with in Dune 2, is all grown up and played by Anya Taylor-Joy. But the biggest surprise is the return of Jason Momoa as Hayt. Momoa played the Atreides swordmaster Duncan Idaho in Dune, but his character died heroically helping Paul and Jessica escape. So who is Hayt?

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Frank Herbert’s Dune novels]

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The answer is in Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert’s 1969 sequel to Dune, which will serve as the inspiration for Dune 3. The book is set 12 years after Dune and follows Paul’s attempts to guide the empire and humanity in the bloody aftermath of the war he unleashed as leader of the Fremen. A group of conspirators trying to overthrow Paul gives him a gift they hope will actually weaken him. Hayt is a ghola, a clone of Paul’s former mentor Duncan Idaho. The artificial being is a violation of Fremen taboos, causing Paul to lose some of his support. Hayt is also implanted with commands from his scheming creators.

Villeneuve just wants to make three Dune movies, but if the series continued, we’d be seeing a lot more of Momoa. Duncan is the only character to appear in all six Dune novels. He’s cloned and killed over and over again for thousands of years. He marries Alia, tries to kill Paul’s sandworm-human hybrid son Leto II, and is turned into a weapon by the Bene Gesserit, who create a version of Duncan who is irresistible to women. Paul is the most important character in the Dune films, but Momoa is playing the real star of Herbert’s books.

Dune 3 releases in theaters on Dec. 18.

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