I have a vague recollection of watching that (and oddly enough I've been re-reading some of my Philippa Gregory Tudor novels lately). But I don't remember this actress.
The article says she's going for Jessica. She's too old for Chani, and according to the Dune Encyclopedia, Irulan is 11 years older than Paul (therefore she was 26 at the beginning of the novel).
I've seen a photo. He couldn't pass for 16 (Paul is 15).
My point is that she doesn't look old enough to me to play Jessica.
Probably not that young no, but he has that skinny, slightly gawky looking going on that means he might be able to get away with playing 17 or 18. What's important is that there's a noticeable enough change after the time-jump for it to be credible that Gurney didn't recognise him at first glance. this can be done with some make-up & lighting trickery in the first half of the movie, but the real work will be in the young man's acting abilities. We'll see.
As I mentioned, she was fine as Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen, playing her ageing from 27 to 42.
She has also been great as Ilsa Faust in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and MI: Fallout.
It's considered bad form for Bene Gesserit to use anti-ageing tricks.
True. And it's not only age that was the difficulty for Gurney. By that time (four years later), Paul had become more Fremen - leaner, his skin drier from the harsh conditions of the desert, and his eyes were blue-within-blue. And the Fremen hygiene routine doesn't include bathing in water. By that time Paul was as grubby-looking as the rest of them.
All that really matters is that he's the brutish, older nephew. They can play with the exact age of the character without impacting the story in any way that matters.
