Warning: This post contains some spoilers for the Dune book.
Stephen McKinley Henderson addresses his role being cut from Dune: Part Two. In the first Dune film directed by Denis Villenueve, Henderson plays Thufir Hawat. He is a Mentat, essentially a human computer, who loyally serves House Atreides during the reign of Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac). Hawat acts as an advisor, a military strategist, and as a mentor figure for Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet). Hawat’s role from the original novel by Frank Herbert was cut down in the first film compared to the source material, with the sequel once expected to do more with his character.
Instead, Hawat was cut from Dune: Part Two entirely, although Henderson explains to Entertainment Weekly that he did film multiple scenes. He is not bitter about his role being removed from the final cut, and is both understanding of the changes made and grateful to have had the experience. His focus is now on his next film, the upcoming Civil War, directed by Alex Garland, in which he plays a prominent role as a journalist. Read Henderson’s comments below:
In the novel, Hawat survives the massacre of House Atreides and is forced to serve House Harkonnen after their Mentat Piter De Vries (David Dastmalchian) is killed during Duke Leto’s assassination attempt against Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård). During this time, Hawat is being secretly poisoned by the Baron, yet is also given the antidote, keeping him in a state in which he is more compliant to serve the Baron. Hawat does what he can to hurt the Harkonnens from within by sowing division between the Baron and his nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler).
Henderson’s reference to filming with Butler means his scenes featured Hawat and Feyd-Rautha together. This takes place over the course of two years in the book, while Dune: Part Two‘s timeline is compressed to a matter of months. During this time in the book, Hawat continues to believe that Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) was the one who betrayed House Atreides, not knowing that it was actually Dr. Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen). Hawat’s suspicions are a significant part of his storyline in the first half of the book that was cut from the first Dune.
He also helps the Harkonnens fight back against Muad’Dib, unaware that this individual is actually Paul. After learning that Paul is Muad’Dib, Hawat takes his own life, horrified that he’d been working against Paul, but happy in the knowledge that Paul and, by extension, House Atreides survived. His last act allows him to serve House Atreides one final time instead of participating in the scheme the Baron had planned for him. Dune: Part Two carefully balances many narrative elements, but for better or worse, Hawat is not one of them.
Source: EW