House Harkonnen
In Villeneuve’s movies, House Harkonnen is portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron, Dave Bautista’s Rabban, and Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha. They are all bald, pale, and sociopathically ruthless. Arrakis has been theirs to rules and harvest for generations, leading to a giant scandal when the emperor takes the planet away and gives it to House Atreides, Harkonnen’s sworn enemies.
The Harkonnen reside on Giedi Prime, a not particularly beautiful planet made more grim by all of the over-industrialization and colosseums. While the Baron and his brood got rich from all the spice, it wasn’t always thus for House Harkonnen. The events that kick-off Dune: Prophecy left it very much in exile by the other powerful houses over its betrayal in the Matrix-like rebellion against “thinking machines” called the Butlerian Jihad. It’s basically the catalyst for everything else that happens in Dune
