Nepo Baby Takes Over Dune 3 and Twitter Has Thoughts

His 16-year-old son, Nakoa-Wolf Momoa, has officially been cast in the upcoming threequel, joining Ida Brooke as the Atreides twins, Leto II and Ghanima — the children of Timothée Chalamet's Paul and Zendaya's Chani.

The casting news dropped in June 2025 via Entertainment Tonight's Instagram, and naturally, social media lost its mind. Some fans were surprisingly chill about it. One comment summed up the general vibe:

"You know what. I actually buy it. Jason's son does look a bit like Timothée, and Ida Brooke actually looks like she could be related to Zendaya. Good choices."

Others, predictably, leaned into the nepo baby discourse — and got a few decent jokes in:

"Actors have been worried about AI taking their jobs. Turns out it's nepo babies they should watch out for"

And then there were the Dune loreheads, like user calebjwill, who clocked the bigger deal hiding under the casting:

"We're actually seeing the twins in the movie? Interesting."

If you've read Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah (published in 1969), you'll know it picks up about 12 years after the first book — which makes the casting of a 16-year-old Nakoa-Wolf pretty logical. Or... maybe Dune Messiah is jumping even further ahead in time. Or maybe Denis Villeneuve is just handwaving the timeline entirely. One X user captured the confusion perfectly:

"These aren't newborn children sooooo what's Denis cookin???"

Of course, the big question is how they'll explain Paul Atreides still looking like a brooding 25-year-old while his kids are fully grown desert prophets. But hey, stranger things have happened in this franchise.

Dune Messiah is currently slated for December 16, 2026, which also happens to be the release date for the Russo Brothers' Avengers: Doomsday. So yes, we might be looking at another Barbenheimer-style box office showdown — Dunesday vs Doomsday, if you will.

Whatever happens, one thing's clear: Duncan Idaho's not the only Momoa making moves in Arrakis.