Editing List of Dune characters (section)

=== Lady Jessica ===
{{main|Lady Jessica}}
In ''Dune'', Lady Jessica is the [[concubine]] of Duke Leto and the mother of his son Paul and daughter [[Alia Atreides|Alia]]. Jessica is one of the Bene Gesserit, a secretive, [[matriarchy|matriarchal]] order who achieve superhuman abilities through physical and mental conditioning and the use of the drug melange. Instructed by the Bene Gesserit to first conceive a daughter with Leto to further the order's centuries-long [[breeding program (Dune)|breeding program]], she disobeyed out of love for Leto, and gave him a son. This seemingly minor misstep puts the Atreides bloodline on a collision course with events that will ultimately change the fate of the universe. Pregnant with Alia, Jessica flees into the desert with Paul as House Atreides is all but destroyed by the forces of the wicked Baron [[Vladimir Harkonnen]]. Finding refuge with the native Fremen, she and Paul take advantage of the legends planted there by Bene Gesserit religious engineering, casting themselves as the prophesied [[messiah]] and his mother. Jessica undergoes the Fremen version of the Bene Gesserit [[spice agony]] ritual, becoming a [[Reverend Mother (Dune)|Reverend Mother]] and unlocking [[Other Memory]], the personas and memories of all her female ancestors. But doing so while pregnant subjects the unborn Alia to an onslaught of heightened awareness for which her fragile consciousness is not prepared. Jessica returns to Arrakis in ''Children of Dune'' and recognizes that Alia, who serves as regent for Paul and Chani's twin children, [[Leto II Atreides|Leto II]] and [[#Ghanima Atreides|Ghanima]], has succumbed to the dangers of her unique birth and become possessed. Jessica escapes an assassination attempt by Alia, and trains [[#Farad'n|Farad'n]], the grandson of Shaddam IV, in the Bene Gesserit way.

Lady Jessica is portrayed by [[Francesca Annis]] in the 1984 film.<ref name="dune maslin"/> [[Saskia Reeves]] plays the role in the 2000 miniseries,<ref name="NYT Stasio"/> and is succeeded by [[Alice Krige]] in its 2003 sequel.<ref name="NYT Wertheimer"/> [[Rebecca Ferguson]] portrays Jessica in the 2021 film<ref name="ew dune 2021"/> and its 2024 sequel.<ref name="rt dune two"/>