Villeneuve’s version was like “look how badass she is”.
Unless you wanted Kynes to realise the folly of humans trying to control the environment while addressing the audience in a long monologue, or to have a couple minutes of the godawful voiceover narration that plagues the 1984 film, I really don’t see how Kynes’ book death would have worked on film. I also don’t see why it makes a different whether Kynes is a man or a woman.
Dune part one simply doesn’t have the runtime to delve in depth into Kynes’ dream of a terraformed Arrakis, it only touches on it, meaning a conclusion to movie Kynes’ story where she accepts humans cannot control nature would not have been narratively justified or satisfying. Villeneuve’s version deals with the aspect of Kynes which IS a big staple of her character in the film, her commitment to the Emperor and seeming refusal to pick a side. In her last moments she denounces the Emperor and embraces the Fremen part of herself entirely, which makes far more sense for this version. And yes it is the one of the most badass ways to go out. That’s no bad thing in my eyes.
I’ve posted countless times before that I thoroughly hate every single aspect of gender-swapped Kynes and nothing will change my mind on it.
I do have an idea for Kynes’s book death adapted to screen. Have it be this very surreal, trippy, dreamlike sequence.