20 Things You Didn’t Know About Dune
12. It Was The Main Inspiration For Star Wars
Okay, let’s just bullet point the similarities in quick succession, yeah?
A primary desert planet setting
Circular-mouthed monsters living under said planet’s surface
Rebellious sand dwellers
A neo-feudal class structure with a galactic emperor at the helm
Noble houses and royalty in-exile
Mysterious quasi-religious orders with seemingly supernatural powers
Conniving, bloated bastards (Harkonnen and Hutt)
HAN SOLO IS LITERALLY A SPICE SMUGGLER
Dune influenced Star Wars in other ways which we will come to later but George Lucas has been very unabashed about his inspiration from the classic sci-fi novel. Han’s particular line of work was deliberately written as a homage to Herbert’s Dune.
It would also be unfair to say Star Wars was the only culprit as countless works of fiction such as Warhammer 40k, Dark Angel, Tremors, South Park, the Fallout games and even The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy wear the novel's influence proudly on their sleeves.