Timothée Chalamet’s Bald Head Has Major Implications For Dune 3

This article contains spoilers for Dune Messiah.

Timothée Chalamet was Paul Atreides from the very first moments of Dune. But it wasn’t until the final seconds of Dune: Part Two that he became Paul Mu’adib. Having defeated House Harkonnen and defied CHOAM, Paul established himself as the new Padishah Emperor. Chalamet embodied Paul’s new position with the intensity of his voice, with his aggressive posture, and—most important of all—with his lovely curly locks, which dangled over his flashing eyes.

Given the importance of Chalamet’s hairstyle for the future of his character, we can understand why some are taken aback to see a new video that the actor shared from the premiere of Marty Supreme. That movie, in which Josh Safdie directs Chalamet as a champion ping pong player, is already finished and slated for a Christmas release. Right now, Chalamet is shooting Dune: Part Three with Denis Villeneuve. So why does he appear in that video with his head buzzed? What happened to his lovely tresses?

The answer is clear to anyone who has read Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert‘s sequel to Dune and the basis of Villeneuve’s third film. Herbert was famously irritated with readers who misunderstood his first book’s warning against charismatic leaders. To counter those who saw Paul as some type of hero, he wrote a dense, tightly packed novel about palace intrigue and a conspiracy against the new Emperor.

The Paul of Dune Messiah is no longer the hopeful young man thrust into an impossible situation. He is now a ruthless leader who has unleashed a Fremen jihad against unbelievers, those who stand against his vision of the future. Where Dune: Part Two ends with Chani leaving Paul, disturbed by the fanaticism he shows at his moment of victory, Dune Messiah sees her standing by her partner, even though he is still technically in a political marriage with Princess Irulan.

Unbeknownst to Paul, Irulan is part of a conspiracy against Paul, which includes Reverend Mother Mohiam of the Bene Gesserit, the amphibian mutant Edric of the Spacing Guild, and Scytale, a facedancer (or shapeshifter) of the Tleilaxu.

Villeneuve seeded some of these conflicts in his previous movies, which included revelations that come later in the books, such as the motivations of Paul’s sister Alia and the familial connection between Paul’s mother Jessica and the Baron Harkonnen. However, Chalamet’s hairstyle may be the clearest indication of where the third movie intends to go.

Again: Full spoilers for Dune Messiah to follow!

At the climax of Dune Messiah, Paul gathers his forces to destroy the conspirators, but not before the Tleilaxu unleash their ultimate weapon: an atomic bomb called a stone burner. The stone burner ravages Paul and leaves him blind, forcing him to rely on his precognition. The shorn Chalamet of the Marty Supreme video is likely fresh from shooting those scenes.

Of course, anyone who continues reading the Dune franchise knows that Paul’s story doesn’t end there. But we’ll wait for Chalamet to post another internet video before we get into those plots.

Dune: Part Three comes to theaters on December 18, 2026.