When I first saw the original Star Wars movie back in 1977, my father commented on how much it reminded him of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Being obsessed with anything even tangentially related to Star Wars, I tore through Dune as soon as I could.
Dune was a brilliant book*, but I was a little disappointed that at the time because I didn’t see a great deal that reminded me of Star Wars. You had a desert planet, an exotic religion, and a rebellion, but other than that? Dune was about much more about intrigue than space-swashbuckling. Even now, the resemblance strikes me as largely cosmetic.
But…
Is it just me, or did episodes IV-VI set up the potential for the next trilogy to parallel the next three Dune books? It’s been a while since I read Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune, but if memory serves, the could pick up right from where Return of the Jedi left off, couldn’t they?
You start with a power vaccuum as the empire has been, if not destroyed, than at the very list shown to be vulnerable and ripe for overthrow. You have siblings (a generation off from Dune, but still) who been thrust to the forefront of the revolution. You have a creepy dead relative who has to potential to remain influential as a spirit. If you squint, you can even kind of cast old man Solo as an analogue to Duncan Idaho.
I’m not saying that episode VII should walk the path of Herbert’s books. I’m just saying that, given where we left off, a Dune Messiah-ish plot would fit remarkably well. I’m also saying that it would be so, so awesome.
* I wound up being a bigger fan of Dune than Star Wars. I absolutely wore out my copy of the Dune Encyclopedia. Funny old world, innit?
