page_title: Paul Atreides
section_title: In adaptations
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Atreides / In adaptations
caption_attribution_description: English: Timothée Chalamet at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
context_page_description: Paul Atreides is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Paul is a prominent character in the first two novels in the series, Dune and Dune Messiah, and returns in Children of Dune. The character is brought back as two different gholas in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels which conclude the original series, Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, and appears in the prequels Paul of Dune and The Winds of Dune. According to Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's son and biographer, House Atreides was based on the heroic but ill-fated Greek mythological House Atreus.
  A primary theme of Dune and its sequels is Frank Herbert's warning about society's tendencies to "give over every decision-making capacity" to a charismatic leader. He said in 1979, "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes." Paul rises to leadership through military strategy and political maneuvering, but his superhuman powers and ability to fit himself into pre-existing religious infrastructure allow him to force himself upon mankind as their messiah.
context_section_description: Paul is portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation, and by Alec Newman in the 2000 Dune miniseries and its 2003 sequel. The character will be played by Timothée Chalamet in the 2020 Denis Villeneuve film Dune.
  Richard Corliss of Time notes that "MacLachlan, 25, grows impressively in the role; his features, soft and spoiled at the beginning, take on a he-manly glamour once he assumes his mission."
  Laura Fries of Variety writes that "Newman, as the sour Paul, sticks to just one note". Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com suggested that the choice to cast adult actor Newman as Paul is problematic because the character is written in the script as less mature and observant than he is in the source novel.
caption: Timothée Chalamet will portray Paul in the 2020 film Dune.
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