The setup is simple enough: Paul sticks his hand into a box that makes him feel like it’s on fire, a poison needle is placed near his throat, and he is told that trying to withdraw from the test means death.
It’s a big dramatic moment for the protagonist early in the story, and will hopefully be a sequence that Denis Villenueve uses to jolt audiences.
As Dune fans know, great things lie ahead in the destiny of Paul Atreides, and it’s right at the start of the story that he receives his first great test from Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling).