Are Dune's Chani And Stilgar Related?

Denis Villenueve inarguably accomplished an impressive feat with his first two "Dune" movies. Finally giving Frank Herbert's supposedly "unfilmable" 1965 novel a worthy big screen adaptation, the French Canadian filmmaker somehow managed to craft his own unique vision while staying true to the author's original story.

Villeneueve was clearly loyal to Herbert's writing but wasn't so precious about it that his movies didn't make changes to the novel. In places, the director and his team were able to make their own creative decisions, such as when production designer Patrice Vermette based the look of the Emperor Shaddam's tent on a Rolex watch. Elsewhere, cinematographer Greig Fraser shot the exterior of the Harkonnen home planet Giedi Prime with infrared cameras to produce a monochrome image that reflected the black sun-drenched surface of the world. These were all creative decisions the team had to make in order to bring Herbert's words to life in a visual medium. But other moments in both "Dune" and "Dune: Part Two" simply diverged from the original novel outright.

For one thing, a major "Dune: Part Two" death differs quite dramatically from the book. In the film, Stellan Skarsgård's Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is killed by Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides and not, as described in the book, by his sister Alia. In fact, Alia isn't even born in Villeneuve's films, instead showing up in flash-forward sequences wherein she's played by Anya Taylor-Joy in a cameo appearance. Clearly, then, Villeneuve was acutely aware of the fact he was making a movie first, and not simply following Herbert's exact words. That manifested elsewhere, too, with the director choosing to keep the backstory of Zendaya's Fremen warrior Chani ambiguous even though, in the novel, she is confirmed to be the niece of Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem). But does that mean the movie version of Chani isn't related to Stilgar? Or is Villeneuve merely keeping that aspect of the story a secret for now?

In Frank Herbert's "Dune" books, Chani was the daughter of a half-Fremen planetologist named Liet Kynes and Fremen herbalist Faroula. She went on to fight for her people under the guidance of her uncle, Stilgar, who was Liet Kynes' brother. In both the "Dune" novel and Denis Villeneueve's two-part film adaptation, Stilgar is a Naib, which means he is the leader of a Fremen Sietch or community — the group joined by Paul Atreides after his clan are destroyed by the Harkonnens on the planet Arrakis.

However, in the movies, the relationship between Stilgar and Chani — who becomes Paul's lover as the story unfolds — remains vague. While the two are clearly close, it's never made explicitly clear that Chani is Stilgar's niece. Villeneuve actually made quite a few major changes to Zendaya's character. For one thing, her Fremen warrior is a more cynical version of her book counterpart, seeing through the worship of Paul Atreides and remaining incredulous as he seemingly fulfills the Fremen prophecies of the Lisan al-Ghaib. What's more, the director gender-swapped the character of Liet Kynes, who in the movie is an Imperial Planetologist played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster. As Villeneuve seemingly confirmed to Entertainment Weekly, Chani is still Kynes' daughter, even though this connection is never mentioned in either movie. While the outlet doesn't quote the director directly, the article itself is based upon a conversation with Villeneuve, so this seems like a fairly solid indication that Kynes and Chani are related.

What it doesn't confirm, however, is whether Stilgar is also related to Kynes in the movie versions of "Dune." As such it remains unclear whether Chani is, indeed the Fremen Naib's niece in Villeneuve's films.

In "Dune: Part Two," we see Chani become increasingly concerned about the way in which her people embrace Paul Atreides as some sort of messianic figure. Throughout the movie, she remains skeptical of the Fremen's growing admiration for her new lover, and in the final moments has her concerns seemingly validated as Paul announces he will marry the daughter of Christopher Walken's Emperor Shaddam IV, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh).

Meanwhile, Stilgar is all-in on the Lisan al Gaib prophecy, which tells of a savior figure arriving to lead the Fremen. He and Chani actually clash over their differing views on the prophecy — something that Villeneuve played up for the movie but which isn't as much of an issue in the novel. Does this lack of a shared belief in the prophecy hint at the two having completely different backgrounds and, therefore, completely different families? Perhaps, but again, it's not entirely clear whether Chani and Stilgar's clash would be made worse by the idea that they do, in fact, come from the same family.

Villeneuve has yet to clarify any of this, and that's probably for good reason. The director clearly has his own vision for the "Dune" saga, and has already made at least one major change to Chani's backstory by gender-swapping Liet Kynes. With "Dune 3" being fast-tracked at the time of writing, it might not be all that long until we find out the truth about whether the Chani and Stilgar of the movies are related or not, (though Villeneuve is, of course, under no obligation to reveal the answer at all).