Austin Butler has opened up about playing Feyd-Rautha in the upcoming Dune sequel.

During Thursday’s episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Elvis star was asked what inspired his depiction of Feyd-Rautha in Dune: Part Two.

“Animals, you know, like a snake and a shark. And yeah, looking back at certain cultures through time that have been bred in brutality,” Austin responded. “I didn’t want to play a caricature of him. But what does somebody become when they’re born in brutality and they must act with violence in order to survive? Who does that person become?”

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is the youngest nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the villain portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård in the first film. Feyd-Rautha is also the younger brother of Dave Bautista’s Glossu Rabban and the planned successor of House Harkonnen.

In a recent interview with Total Film, the actor explained that his character is both “psychotic” and “seductive”.

“(Director) Denis (Villeneuve) described him to me as having a psychotic nature, but yet there’s something sort of seductive about him as well. And he’s hungry for power,” he shared. “I started thinking: ‘Well, how did he grow up? What would his voice sound like? How would he breathe? How would he move?’ That was the real fun, where you start filling in all those details, and putting meat on the bone.”

Butler joins returning Dune stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson and fellow newcomers Florence Pugh, Léa Seydoux and Christopher Walken.

The film will be released on 1 March.

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