Four figures have been announced for December 2026, the very month the third movie is released. Funko explicitly ties them to Dune Part Three, meaning the line is opening before audiences have even seen the film. The problem — or the gift, depending on your point of view — is that one of the four carries information in its official name that the movie has not revealed yet.
See you on December 18
Denis Villeneuve's third installment arrives on December 18, 2026, in IMAX, adapting Dune Messiah, the novel Frank Herbert published in 1969. The movie places the story seventeen years after the end of Dune: Part Two, compared with twelve in the book.
Filming wrapped on November 11, 2025, between Budapest and Abu Dhabi, and the first trailer was released in March 2026. Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya return as Paul and Chani. The newcomers hint at the shift in tone: Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Robert Pattinson as Scytale, the Tleilaxu Face Dancer, Jason Momoa as Hayt, the ghola created in the image of Duncan Idaho, who died in the first film, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides.
The date has become a subject in its own right among fans, who have nicknamed it “Dunesday”: on December 18, Dune and Avengers: Doomsday open on the same day.
Alia in white, covered in blood – POP #2154
This is the figure we need to talk about, and its official name is Alia Atreides (Bloody).
The design is striking: a white hooded dress, glowing blue eyes and blood splattered across the whole outfit. In other words, a religious figure dressed in immaculate white, stained red.
The official description takes care to explain who she is, which is useful for people who only know the movies: Alia is Paul's younger sister, and her mother drank the Water of Life while pregnant. She is therefore born “pre-born,” carrying the memories of all the Reverend Mothers who came before her. A child with thousands of lives inside her head.
In Dune Messiah, Alia is the priestess of the cult built around her brother, and she is the one who enforces its most brutal side. Releasing this figure in white, splattered with blood, two months before the movie opens is not a costume choice. It is a narrative direction printed on a box.
It is also, incidentally, her very first figure: until now, the character had only existed through hints in the first two films.
Paul on the worm, as a Pop! Moment – POP #2155
The second standout piece in the wave, and by far the largest.
This is a sixteen-centimeter Pop! Moment, a format Funko reserves for scenes rather than standalone characters. The subject: Paul riding the sandworm.
It is the image on which the entire saga rests, the one Villeneuve saved for the final third of the second movie, and the moment that transforms Paul from exile into prophet. The official description says it plainly: he fulfills a prophecy the Bene Gesserit feared and the Fremen awaited.
It is also worth noting that the worm has never had its own release in the line. After five years of Dune figures, the creature that defines the desert finally arrives, and this was the only format capable of doing it justice.
Crouching Chani, and another Paul
The other two releases complete the wave without carrying it.
- Chani – POP #2153: the official name specifies Crouching, and the figure shows her crouched down, blade in hand, scar visible on her face. It is the right pose for a character who is first and foremost a Fremen fighter, and the only one of the four actually doing something. One oddity, though: she is noticeably shorter than the others because of the pose, which will show on a shelf. Another amusing detail is that the official description recounts Duke Leto's death and Paul's flight into the desert — in other words, a summary of the first movie, not the third.
- Paul Atreides – POP #2152: long beige coat, blue-within-blue eyes. Accurate, faithful, and probably the least necessary release in the wave, for reasons I explain below.
My take on this release
Alia is the one to get, and I do not see much room for debate.
It is the first figure for the character, the strongest design in the wave, and above all the only one of the four that tells the movie rather than simply illustrating it. Figures that gain value are almost always the ones that capture a specific moment rather than a character in a neutral pose, and this one captures the transformation of a saint into an executioner. If one release from this wave is being hunted two years from now, it will be this one.
The Pop! Moment comes next. I know the usual criticism of the format: bulky dioramas sold for the price of two POPs, and that criticism is often fair. Not here. A man standing on a worm hundreds of meters long does not fit into a standard box, and any attempt to force it would have produced something ridiculous. The format is the subject.
On the other hand, do not buy the standard Paul right now. A second wave is already documented, with another Paul and, more importantly, a Hayt, the Duncan Idaho ghola. Paul has received a figure in every single Dune wave since 2021, several versions already exist in the catalog, and this one adds nothing but a coat. Wait to see the next one, or save the shelf space for the ghola, who is the most interesting character the third movie brings in.
I will defend Chani despite the size issue. A standing Chani with her arms at her sides would have been yet another hero's-companion figure; crouched with her blade, she is a Fremen waiting in ambush. The scale mismatch with the rest of the wave is still annoying when you line up all four.
The final omission is a major one: Irulan and Scytale. A Tleilaxu Face Dancer played by Robert Pattinson is the most obviously POP-friendly design in the entire movie, and the conspiracy he leads is literally the plot of Dune Messiah. Opening a line based on a conspiracy novel without including a single conspirator is the same habit Funko repeats from license to license: heroes first, adversaries if there is room left. Pre-orders are open, with release scheduled for December 2026.
#funko #funkopop #dune #dunepartthree #lemessiededune #paulatreides #aliaatreides #chani #verdessables #sandworm #popmoment #scifi
