Part One of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune brought Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 novel back to theaters, but one important book character didn’t make the trip to Arrakis. Readers are still waiting to see Lady Margot Fenring’d big screen debut. They won’t have to wait much longer. She will appear in Dune: Part Two. Who is this powerful woman and what is her role in the galaxy? Here’s everything you need to know about Margot Fenring before you return to Arrakis, including why everything we think we know about her might be upended in Dune: Part Two.
Who Is Dune‘s Margot Fenring?
The beautiful and cunning Lady Margot Fenring is a powerful and important member of the Bene Gesserit whose ultimate loyalties lie with the Order. She is renowned for her super human abilities of observation and awareness. She is also noted for her supreme skills with seduction and sexual imprinting. Like other members of her Order, she is also in complete charge of her own physiology and can control the physical sex of her fetus/offspring.
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen offers a description of Margot in Dune. He sees the “willowy” Lady wearing a long flowing gown and is struck by her “golden” hair, “gray-green eyes,” and “perfect figure.” He also notes she “had that Bene Gesserit serene repose about her” that Feyd-Rautha calls “subtly disturbing.”
Margot Fenring is also an adept political player herself. Her Order entrusted her with multiple secretive missions. And she was also one of the Bene Gesserit’s breeders, one of the sisters who contributed to the Order’s crossbreeding program designed to produce the Kwisatz Haderach.
Who Is Margot Fenring Married to in Dune?
The Bene Gesserit frequently had its members become either wives or concubines to major political figures. The Sisterhood had Margot Fenring marry Count Hasimir Fenring. The Count was a leader of a House Minor, deadly fighter and assasin, and close friend of the Emperor. Count Fenring was once a possible Kwisatz Haderach candidate, but was born sterile. His wife also trained him in some of her Order’s ways, giving him acute observational skills.
What Is Margot Fenring’s Role in Frank Herbert’s Dune?
Margot was with her husband on Arrakis when he served as the planet’s temporary governor during the handoff between House Harkonnen and House Atreides. Before Lady Margot departed the planet she left a coded note behind for her fellow Order member, Lady Jessica. Margot warned Jessica about the Harkonnen plan to kill Paul Atreides and his father Duke Leto.
Fenring is also tasked by her Order, with her loving husband’s knowledge, to breed with Feyd-Rautha to maintain the Harkonnen bloodline. She also uses her abilities to covertly maintain control over the deadly Harkonnen warrior for the Bene Gesserit’s secret goals.
Who Plays Margot Fenring in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Movies?
Léa Seydoux will play Lady Margot Fenring in Dune: Part Two. American audiences best know the French actress for her roles in Inglourious Basterds, Robin Hood, Midnight in Paris, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.
Did the Character Margot Fenring Appear in David Lynch’s Dune?
Neither Margot Fenring nor her husband appeared in David Lynch’s 1984 Dune adaptation. Count Fenring had a minor role in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two will mark the Bene Gesserit sister’s first live-action appearance.
A 1997 Dune card game depicted her with a very different hairstyle than the one Herbert described in his novel. The card showed a red-haired Lady Margot with an unusual hairstyle.
What Will Margot Fenring‘s Role Be in Dune: Part Two?
Villeneuve’s movie could upend much of what we know about Lady Margot Fenring from Herbert’s novel in. The director has said Seydoux’s Lady Margot will be “full of surprises” in Dune: Part Two. He called his version of the character “a secret agent,” but didn’t explain exactly what that will mean for her role in the film versus the book.
He also wouldn’t address wether she will be good or evil in the film. Instead Villeneuve said the goals of the Bene Gesserit, and therefore the Order’s loyal sister Lady Margot, have nothing to do with those concepts. They only want “to make sure that humanity will move in the right direction” via “a being that will bring humanity to enlightenment.” They will breed that hero by doing whatever it takes to accomplish their ultimate task.
We won’t know exactly what all of that means for Lady Margot until she finally makes her live-action debut in Dune: Part Two on March 1, 2024.
Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.
More must-reads: