Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan role in Dune: Part Two was thrilling, but it disappoints. Denis Villeneuve's choice to break Frank Herbert's first Dune book into two movies made Irulan a likely new character.
Florence Pugh appeared in Dune 2 as Princess Irulan at the right time for the franchise. She joined the cast in early 2022, two years following her first Oscar nomination for Little Women and a year after co-starring in Black Widow.
The sequel was more exciting since it found another young star who has only grown in popularity since then. One would expect Pugh to play a larger part in Dune 2's denouement than Irulan did in the book.
However, breaking Dune into two movies offered Denis Villeneuve more time to develop the story and characters and expand on page concepts. By casting Pugh, Irulan appeared destined for a larger part.