Jason Momoa has revealed that Hayt in Dune: Part Three is the weirdest character he has ever played. The actor returns to Denis Villeneuve’s desert saga after a first film that seemed to close his story for good. Fans who watched that exit expected a permanent goodbye, yet Arrakis rarely lets anyone stay gone. Now Momoa is opening up about what the comeback actually demanded, and it was not the swagger he is famous for.

Fans assumed Duncan Idaho was buried in the sand for good, but Momoa found that returning as a man with no memories is a far trickier trick.

Jason Momoa calls Hayt the weirdest character he has ever played in Dune: Part Three. Hayt is a ghola of Duncan Idaho, revived after Duncan died in the first film. He has the combat skills but none of the memories. Momoa had to play a stranger wearing a familiar face.

“It’s probably the weirdest character I’ve ever had to navigate, because I know I was hired to play Duncan for a certain reason,” said Momoa to the New York Times.

He then added, “It was very challenging. I’m not the most subtle actor, or human, so it was probably my most subtle performance.”

The New York Times also reported that Momoa joined production after filming was already underway, meaning Denis Villeneuve was not by his side as he had been during the first film. Momoa chose not to keep calling the director with questions about the character. He has yet to watch the finished film, so he does not even know which of his takes made the final cut.

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While Momoa wrestles with a man who has no past, Taylor-Joy is warning fans that the man on the throne deserves no applause.

Anya Taylor-Joy has a reality check for anyone who left the earlier films cheering for Paul Atreides. She told The New York Times that Paul is so charismatic that audiences need the third movie to realize he is not the moral of the story. Dune: Part Three will present him the way author Frank Herbert intended, as a cautionary figure instead of a hero.

The misreading is not new. When Herbert published Dune in 1965, readers took Paul for a textbook savior, which pushed the author to write Dune Messiah as a correction. Denis Villeneuve planted red flags in Dune: Part Two, from the Water of Life to the lie of the Lisan al-Gaib, and Timothée Chalamet has teased a far darker descent ahead. Subtlety, it turns out, is the hardest trick Momoa has attempted.

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What are your thoughts on Jason Momoa’s weirdest role in Dune: Part Three? Let us know in the comments.