Denis Villeneuve’s forthcoming Dune film, which will release in two parts, has a due date of December 18th, 2020. With the help of Warner Bros., the first part of the Q4 film will hit the silver-screen late this year, but in the meantime, we learn that the reboot channels woke narratives as predicted in an early rumor.

As showcased before, the list of people starring in this film remains the same except for the recently revealed Sharon Duncan-Brewster, who will assume the role of Liet-Kynes:

• Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides
• Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica
• Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides
• Zendaya as Chani
• Javier Bardem as Stilgar
• Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck
• Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho
• Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam
• Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
• Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen
• Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet-Kynes

As mentioned in a report that we published back on December 30th, 2019, we made mention that the December due movie has gender and race swapped Liet-Kynes to a black woman. And lo and behold, it has come to fruition via vanityfair.com:

“In an intriguing change to the source material, Villeneuve has also updated Dr. Liet Kynes, the leading ecologist on Arrakis and an independent power broker amid the various warring factions. Although always depicted as a white man, the character is now played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Rogue One), a black woman.

And here is Duncan-Brewster’s take on the change:

“What Denis had stated to me was there was a lack of female characters in his cast, and he had always been very feminist, pro-women, and wanted to write the role for a woman. This human being manages to basically keep the peace amongst many people. Women are very good at that, so why can’t Kynes be a woman? Why shouldn’t Kynes be a woman?”

The issue was enough to get Jeremy from Geeks + Gamers to rant about the wokeness in the upcoming film.

Also in the same report in late 2019, we touched on the Bene Gesserit having a more prominent role than before, boasting “female power” in the faces of the audience. This information came true via the latest piece that vanityfair.com posted up:

“The director has also expanded the role of Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica. She’s a member of the Bene Gesserit, a sect of women who can read minds, control people with their voice, and manipulate the balance of power in the universe. In the script, which Villeneuve wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts, she is even more fearsome than before. The studio’s plot synopsis describes her as a “warrior priestess.” As Villeneuve jokes, “It’s better than ‘space nun.’ ”

Lady Jessica’s duty is to deliver a savior to the universe—and now she has a greater role in defending and training Paul too.

Rebecca Ferguson chimes in detailing even more about her character in the 2020 film:

“She’s a mother, she’s a concubine, she’s a soldier. Denis was very respectful of Frank’s work in the book, [but] the quality of the arcs for much of the women have been brought up to a new level. There were some shifts he did, and they are beautifully portrayed now.”

But that’s not all. The new Dune movie wouldn’t be a fit prize for current year if it didn’t tick off every checkbox on the woke clipboard, and that includes a reference to that thing known as Greta Thunberg.

The publication site describes Paul Atreides as a boy trying to find his place in the world and tells the reader to think of him as “Greta Thunberg, only she’s a Jedi with a diploma from Hogwarts.” Following that comes the rest of the typical current year lingo from Villeneuve:

“No matter what you believe, Earth is changing, and we will have to adapt. That’s why I think that Dune, this book, was written in the 20th century. It was a distant portrait of the reality of the oil and the capitalism and the exploitation—the overexploitation—of Earth. Today, things are just worse. It’s a coming-of-age story, but also a call for action for the youth.”

Finally, the first part of the Dune movie is due out on December 18th, 2020. No word on the second part’s release has surfaced yet.