The headlines:
Who’s in the cast of Dune: Part Two?
Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem will be back, alongside new additions Florence Pugh and Austin Butler.
When will Dune: Part Two be released?
The hotly anticipated sequel is set to land in cinemas on 1 March 2024.
What’s the plot of Dune: Part Two?
It should pick up where Dune left off, tracking Paul Atreides’s rise to power and his subsequent rebellion against Emperor Shaddam IV.
Is there a trailer for Dune: Part Two?
Yes, there are two!
The details:
Those who survived Dune will return—and Zendaya will have a much bigger role
Timothée Chalamet will be reprising the part of Paul Atreides, the heir to a noble house who is heralded as a messiah, while Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård and Dave Bautista are set to join him as Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Baron Harkonnen and Glossu Rabban, respectively (Oscar Isaac’s Duke Leto Atreides sadly perished in the first film).
Also back? Zendaya as Chani, one of the fierce Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis who appears in Paul’s visions and crosses his path for the first time towards the end of Dune. Despite only having seven minutes of screen time in the latter, viewers have been assured that the actor will be more prominent in the sequel. If director Denis Villeneuve cleaves closely to the source material, Frank Herbert’s best-selling sci-fi novel of the same name, it should see her guiding and protecting Paul, and eventually emerging as the story’s romantic lead.
“When I did the casting for Chani’s character, I met a lot of actresses,” Villeneuve told La Repubblica in August 2021. “Zendaya wanted to audition and today, after shooting the film and seeing what a wonderful actress she is, I’m sorry I auditioned her. It was just because I didn’t know her. However, that day, she impressed me and when she left the studio I knew that Chani was her, the young desert tiger. I am honoured to present two such explosive talents on screen [Chalamet and Zendaya] and I can’t wait to shoot the second part of Dune to get them back together knowing that in the next chapter Zendaya will be the [female] protagonist of the story.”
Florence Pugh and Austin Butler are joining the cast
On 8 March, it was reported that Florence Pugh was being courted to play Princess Irulan, the Emperor’s daughter who marries Paul for political reasons. Pugh and Chalamet have, of course, played a couple before, in Greta Gerwig’s heartwarming adaptation of Little Women. Then, on 10 March, more news followed: Elvis’s Austin Butler was also in negotiations to play Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the nefarious nephew of Baron Harkonnen and his chosen heir.
X/Twitter has pointed out that, with Butler’s casting, the DCU (The Dune Cinematic Universe, or, Duniverse) gets a tad messy. Firstly, Butler and Chalamet share an ex in Lily-Rose Depp, with Chalamet and Depp having dated for two and half years between 2018 and 2020. Butler and Depp dated briefly in 2021. Separately, Butler has been in a relationship with model Kaia Gerber, who previously dated Jacob Elordi, since December 2021. Elordi is also rumoured to have dated Butler’s new co-star Zendaya from 2018 to 2020, after the two met on the set of Euphoria. Keep up!
The other luminaries touching down on Arrakis? Christopher Walken, who will be taking on the part of Emperor Shaddam IV, the ruler who felt threatened by Leto Atreides and so conspired with House Harkonnen to send him and his family to the desert planet; Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot, a member of the Bene Gesserit and an ally of Paul’s; Swiss actor Souheila Yacoub as the Fremen squad leader Shishakli; and Tim Blake Nelson in an yet-to-be-disclosed role.
It will feature epic showdowns and Chalamet and co. riding sandworms
Fans of Herbert’s novel have pointed out that Dune only covers approximately two-thirds of the tome, meaning there’s plenty of material left for the sequel. The first film ended with Paul joining the Fremen with the intention of bringing peace to Arrakis, so, assuming the second picks up where it left off, we should then witness Paul’s rise to power. When word of his greatness reaches Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor, they amass fleets around the desert planet and Paul leads the Fremen into battle on giant sandworms under the cover of an electric storm.
The official synopsis reads: “This follow-up film will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavours to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.” We can hardly wait.
The trailers are breathtaking
On 3 May, hot on the heels of an explosive teaser, came the first official trailer. It opens with Chalamet and Zendaya admiring the dunes of Arrakis, before the great battle begins. Cue shots of a supremely regal Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan; Austin Butler as the other-worldly Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen; Léa Seydoux as the mysterious Lady Margot; and Chalamet mounting a sandworm for the first time. It’s guaranteed to give you goosebumps.
A second trailer followed on 29 June, this time featuring more explosive battle scenes, including an epic showdown between Paul and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.
The release date is delayed
On 7 November 2021, Collider reported that production for Dune: Part Two would begin on 18 July 2022, with the film due to arrive in theatres on 20 October 2023. Then, on 30 June, it emerged that the film’s release date had been pushed back to 17 November, but on 11 October, it was moved forward slightly again, to 3 November 2023. Then, on 24 August 2023, as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, it was delayed once more to 15 March 2024. After the strikes ended, it was brought forward slightly to 1 March.
Additional Dune films could be on the horizon, too. Although Villeneuve has spoken about wanting to tell the story in two parts, he also told Entertainment Weekly that he “always envisioned three movies” and would be interested in adapting Herbert’s 1969 sequel Dune Messiah next. Let’s hope he doesn’t stop there.
