The books are getting so much freakier about sexual powers and psychic voyeurism
Dune: Part One (2021) – Baron and the Reverend Mother discuss the demise of House Atreides
The Bene Gesserit are masters of intrigue in the Dune novels, carrying out thousands of long schemes that involve manipulating the Emperor and the Great Houses, sowing prophecies and breeding a Chosen One. Writer-director Denis Villeneuve showcases their mysterious power and the extent of their influence in his film adaptations of the Dune books, but writer Frank Herbert spent much more time exploring and explaining how the organization actually works – especially in his last two novels, which likely will not ever be adapted for the screen.
As strange as the ancient society is in Villeneuve's films, however, they are much stranger in the books, in a way that audiences who only know Dune from these recent films may find hard to believe. Here's how the Bene Gesserit in Dune and Dune: Part Two compare to the much wilder version in the books.
[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Frank Herbert's Dune novels and Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Dune: Part Two.]
