Meet the superfan who flew from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi just for Dune: Part Three fan event

Dubai: Among the crowd inside Abu Dhabi's VOX Cinemas at Al Maryah Island for today's surprise Dune: Part Three reveal was Majid Alammari who had not just driven across town for it. He had flown in from Saudi Arabia specifically for the event, carrying a laminated first print edition of Dune Messiah, the novel the new film is based on, and wearing a replica Signet ring modelled on the one worn in the films.

Majid first heard Denis Villeneuve was adapting Dune back in 2019, and went looking into it purely because of Villeneuve, not Dune itself. "I had always heard of Dune, always seen people talk about it, but I was never really interested," he said. "It seemed like it could be generic, a loose adaptation of Lawrence of Arabia. But Denis Villeneuve is my all-time favourite director. I love his film Arrival."

first print edition of Dune MessiahThat curiosity sent him straight to the source material. "I started reading the first Dune book, which covers what became Part One and Part Two on screen," he said. "It is a pretty hefty book, but it took me around a week. I would wake up and read until the end of the night. My mother was concerned, my whole family was concerned. But I survived, and it was an extremely memorable journey."

He watched Dune: Part One on the big screen the day it opened in Saudi Arabia, which released slightly ahead of some other markets, and has not looked back since. "I have been a huge fan ever since, five times in the theatre for Part One, several more for Part Two, and I do not even know how many times I will watch this one," he said.

What he is most looking forward to in Part Three is watching Paul Atreides' arc reach its conclusion, and seeing how Zendaya's Chani is written. "It will complete Paul Atreides' arc. I am really excited to see Chani, played by Zendaya," he said. "She does not seem as docile as she is in the book. She does not agree with the genocidal path Paul goes down, something some fans still romanticise. I don't."

The ring is only a fraction of what he owns. "I have the Signet ring, an official replica from Dark Horse," he said. "It was around my birthday, it cost $150, and I decided to treat myself." At home, the collection goes much further: bookends shaped like a sandworm, a first print of the original Dune novel, the Art and Soul companion books for both Part One and Part Two, and two of Villeneuve's signatures.

There is one thing still on his list, though. "I am hoping to actually meet him one day," he said. "It is a little pointless just collecting signatures, but let's manifest it."