Dune (2021) recap: Breaking down what happened in Part One of sci-fi hit

Dune: Part Two continues the story of the gifted Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) on the desert planet Arrakis after he and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) were forced to become fugitives following the extermination of House Atreides by their long-time rivals, House Harkonnen.

Now, Paul unites with the planet's oppressed native population, the Fremen, against their enemies.

But what exactly happened in Dune: Part One and what is the story so far?

Dune (2021) recap: Breaking down what happened in Part One of sci-fi hit

The first film starts with a prologue on the desert planet Arrakis narrated by the Fremen warrior Chani (Zendaya), who relays how her homeworld has been plundered by outsiders, the Harkonnens, for a natural resource on the planet – spice.

Due to their oppressive monopolisation of spice production, the Harkonnens amassed horrendous wealth, even more so than the Emperor.

However, the Harkonnens abruptly left by imperial decree, leaving Chani and the rest of the Fremen to question who their next oppressors would be.

Caladan – Homeworld of House Atreides

On a rural and oceanic planet named Caladan, the home of the noble House Atreides, young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) dreams of Chani, despite having never met her, and awakens troubled and continues to educate himself on the planet Arrakis.

Paul's father, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), has been selected by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV Corrino to be the next steward of the planet Arrakis and to oversee the production and distribution of spice – a psychotropic substance that is also the key to interstellar travel which is made possible by the Spacing Guild.

Leto suspects that there is an ulterior motive to the Emperor's decision to abandon House Atreides's long-time enemies in House Harkonnen, but decides to accept the request and harness the other power of Arrakis by allying with the Fremen.

Paul's mother, Lady Jessica, is the Duke's concubine and a member of the sisterhood known as the Bene Gesserit. This group has trained themselves to have increased physical and mental abilities. For centuries, they have been manipulating the genetic lineage of the Great Houses to eventually reach the fabled Kwisatz Haderach, a messianic individual with prescient abilities who will guide humanity to a better future.

Jessica had been tasked by her sisterhood with producing a daughter for Duke Leto, but instead, she ignored the breeding programme and gave him a much-desired son – Paul. Jessica has trained Paul in the Bene Gesserit ways and believes he could be the Kwisatz Haderach.

Leto's closest advisors and friends: war master Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin), master of assassins, Mentat Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and sword master Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) have also trained Paul with their various expertise.

House Atreides soon receives the Imperial Herald of the Change (Benjamin Clementine) on Caladan in a ceremony to confirm Duke Leto's new role.

On a cold and rainy night, Paul is visited on Caladan by Jessica's old mentor, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling), a Bene Gesserit priestess and the Emperor's truthsayer. Mohiam tests Paul with the Gom Jabbar – a poisoned needle to hold at his neck while he feels immense psychic pain by placing his hand inside a box she produces.

To Mohiam's shock, Paul passes the test. Mohiam concedes to Jessica that her son could be the one they have hoped for but lambasts Jessica for her arrogance and reminds her that the Bene Gesserit have other contingencies in place.

Jessica admits to Paul that this is what she has been preparing him for and he relays to her and Duncan that he fears his prescient visions of the future.

After this, House Atreides begins its departure from Caladan as they prepare to head to Arrakis.

Giedi Prime - Homeworld of House Harkonnen

On the harsh, futuristic and bleak homeworld of House Harkonnen, the monstrous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) plots with his sadistic nephew Count Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista) – who had previously been the chief oppressor of the Fremen for his uncle on Arrakis – and twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries (David Dastmalchian), to retake Arrakis from House Atreides in a bloody coup.

Later, the Baron receives a secret visit from Reverend Mother Mohiam, who promises House Harkonnen will receive the full cooperation of the Emperor's army of Sardaukar troops from his harsh military base and ancestral homeworld of Salusa Secundus, which is later visited and confirmed by Piter.

With her Bene Gesserit breeding programme in mind, Mohiam requests that the Harkonenns spare Lady Jessica and Paul, to which the Baron agrees, but admits when alone with Piter that he plans to leave the pair to die in the desert, even if he does not have them directly harmed.

Arrakis (Dune)

House Atreides arrives on Arrakis to much pomp and circumstance, and Paul and Jessica are revered by the people at the capital city of Arrakeen due to the religious prophecies long planted among the Fremen on the planet by the Bene Gesserit missionaries centuries prior.

At their new home citadel, Paul learns much more about Fremen culture and through introductions made by Duncan, Duke Leto meets Stilgar (Javier Bardem), a Fremen chieftain from Sietch Tabr, a settlement in the North of Arrakis.

House Atreides also meets Dr Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), an imperial planetologist who has been designated as the Judge of the Change. Kynes herself has lived among the Fremen and has much to share about the spice production on the planet, the monstrous sandworms beneath the desert, and how to use the Fremen's special stillsuits to survive in the desert and conserve moisture.

In the citadel, Paul narrowly survives an assassination using a controlled flying needle dubbed a hunter-seeker which had been deployed by a nearby Harkonnen spy.

During a reconnaissance flight in ornithopters to view spice harvesters, a party from House Atreides rescue a crew from an attack by a sandworm and Paul briefly inhales so much spice that he experiences further premonitions featuring Chani. Eventually, they escape unscathed and witness the full-scale destruction a sandworm can cause.

Afterwards, Paul is comforted by his mother Jessica and he confides in his visions, which confirm Jessica is pregnant. That night, Jessica spends her final night with Duke Leto, who expresses regret that he had never married her.

What happens to Duke Leto Atreides?

House Atreides's chief medical officer Dr Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen) disables the shields to Arrakeen, allowing an invasion force of House Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops to lay siege to the citadel.

Yueh hopes that by providing the Baron with Duke Leto, he will be reunited with his wife, who is a captive of House Harkonnen. The doctor drugs Duke Leto to provide to the Baron, but replaces one of his teeth with a capsule containing a poisonous gas, which Leto can use to assassinate the Baron in a suicide attack.

When the Baron arrives and House Atreides's forces are defeated, it is revealed that he has already killed Yueh's wife, and reunites them by treacherously murdering the doctor. As the Baron gloats by dining with a paralysed but naked Duke Leto, he eventually hovers close to his nemesis, who then bites down on the capsule, which kills Leto and the Baron's advisor Piter and leaves the Baron injured but alive.

How did Paul Atreides and Lady Jessica escape?

Meanwhile, despite the Baron planning to abandon Paul and Jessica in the desert to die – double-crossing the Bene Gesserit – the pair manage to escape, thanks to supplies left by Yueh and due to the pair's Bene Gesserit abilities.

Paul and Jessica see the devastation of Arrakeen from afar and realise that Duke Leto is dead. Staying overnight in a tent in the desert, Paul inhales even more spice and experiences his most intense prescient visions yet – seeing a bloody holy war in the future fought for and led by himself, with Chani at his side. A distressed Paul rails at Jessica for bringing about this destiny for him.

Meanwhile, the Baron recovers from the near-assassination attempt by the late Duke Leto and leaves Arrakis in the command of Rabban once more, aiming to bring back spice production and keep the Fremen under their control.

Back in the desert, the new Duke Paul and his pregnant mother Jessica are eventually found by Duncan and Dr Kynes and are taken to an old imperial outpost. Once there, Duke Paul reveals a plan to threaten the Emperor with the exposure of his schemes to the great aristocratic houses of the imperial parliament, the Landsraad, which would undoubtedly cause civil war. Paul hopes to offer himself as an heir to the Emperor through marriage to one of his daughters.

Eventually, the group are interrupted when they are successfully tracked by Sardaukar troops and Duncan valiantly sacrifices himself to fight off numerous troops alone and allow Dr Kynes to help Paul and Jessica escape.

The pair escape in an ornithopter into a sandstorm in the deep desert while pursued by their enemies and are eventually presumed dead.

Dr Kynes is injured while trying to escape from the Sardaukar and ultimately attracts the attention of a sandworm to consume her but take her assailants down with her.

As Paul and Lady Jessica attempt to survive in the desert they encounter a titanic sandworm, but successfully escape in time with the aid of nearby Fremen, who distract the sandworm.

How did Paul Atreides and Jessica join with the Fremen?

Soon, they both encounter a group of Fremen warriors in the desert, led by Stilgar and also including Chani, whom Paul recognises from his dreams.

Stilgar offers Paul sanctuary, but not Jessica, and goes to dispatch her, but she defeats him in combat with her Bene Gesserit abilities before letting him go and he accounts for their safety.

A Fremen warrior named Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) opposes Stilgar's kind treatment of the outsiders and challenges Paul to a duel to death, worrying his mother.

Watched by a curious Chani and his mother, Paul fights Jamis in single combat and wins, securing his place among the Fremen.

Despite his mother's concerns, Paul is adamant that their place is now amongst the Fremen and he hopes to bring peace to Arrakis by uniting with them.

Paul tells Stilgar: "My father came, not for spice, not for the riches, but for the strength of your people. My road leads into the desert. I can see it. If you’ll have us, we will come."

The group then moves out to return to the Fremen fortress at Sietch Tabr. Along their journey back, Paul witnesses at a distance the sight of a Fremen riding atop a sandworm.

While the new Duke notes the importance of "Desert Power", as they walk, Chani remarks to Paul: "This is only the beginning."

Who dies in Dune: Part One?

The following major cast members died in Dune: Part One.

• Shadout Mapes (Golda Rosheuvel) - A Fremen servant of House Atreides who is killed by House Harkonnen.
• Dr Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen) - Killed by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen with a blade to the throat after he was blackmailed into betraying House Atreides to save his captive wife.
• Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) - Paul's father ended his own life and attempted to kill the Baron by biting on a false tooth to release a poisonous gas.
• Piter De Vries (David Dastmalchian) - The twisted Mentat of the Baron was killed in Leto's suicide and assassination attempt on the Baron with poisonous gas.
• Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) - The swashbuckling swordmaster of House Atreides died fighting the Emperor's Sardaukar troops while defending Paul and Lady Jessica and allowing then to escape.
• Dr Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) - The ecologist and ally of Paul Atreides was injured by Sardaukar troops but attracted the attention of a sandworm and took her attackers down with her.
• Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) - A Fremen warrior who died during a fight to the death with Paul, earning the Atreides heir safe passage with the Fremen to Sietch Tabr and teaching him the ways of the desert and how to kill a man.

Read more:

• Dune: Part Two review – A spectacular return to Arrakis
• Dune: Part Two ending explained – What happened to Paul and Chani?
• Who is Alia Atreides in Dune: Part Two? Anya Taylor-Joy character explained
• Who is Lady Margot Fenring in Dune: Part 2? Léa Seydoux character explained
• Who is Princess Irulan Corrino in Dune: Part Two? Florence Pugh character explained
• Who is Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two? Austin Butler character explained
• What happened in Dune: Part One? Recap for the first Denis Villeneuve film in franchise
• How is Dune: Part Two different from the book? Book changes explained
• Stellan Skarsgård says reading Dune was “useless” for his Baron Harkonnen portrayal
• Dune director on casting Austin Butler: ‘I needed a playboy – a rockstar’
• Dune: Part Two cast – Full list of actors and characters in sequel
• What is the age rating for Dune: Part Two? Age suitability explained
• How to watch Dune: Part One on DVD, Blu-ray and streaming
• How to read all the Dune books in order

Dune: Part Two will be released in cinemas on 1st March 2024. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.