Part 1's finale left Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), presumed dead in the harsh desert of Arrakis, having fled their home when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) betrayed the family and killed Paul's father, Leto (Oscar Isaac). Villeneuve wrote an op-ed for Variety, sharply criticizing the studio's decision to release Part 1 simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max (for a 31-day period), predicting this could result in the film underperforming at the box office ('piracy will ultimately triumph'), leading to a cancellation of the planned sequel. But Part 2 wasn't automatically guaranteed it depended on how well the first film performed, and Dune: Part 1 had the misfortune to run headlong into the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in several delays in its release date. The first film covered events in the first half of the novel, and Dune: Part 2 covers events in the second half. There's betrayal, a prophecy concerning a messianic figure, giant sandworms, and battle upon battle, as protagonist Paul Atreides (a duke's son) contends with rival House Harkonnen and strives to defeat the forces of Shaddam IV, Emperor of the Known Universe.ĭune is notoriously difficult to adapt-as David Lynch discovered when he directed his critically panned 1984 film adaptation-but Villeneuve found the trick was to split the novel in half. Melange also conveys a kind of prescience and makes faster-than-light travel practical. Much of the action takes place on the planet Arrakis, where the economy is driven largely by a rare, life-extending drug called melange ('the spice'). dropped the first official trailer today, featuring Timothee Chalamet's Paul Atreides riding a sandworm to win the respect of the Fremen, as well as the introduction of the nefarious new villain from House Harkonnen.Īs we've reported previously (also here and here), Herbert's novel Dune is set in the distant future and follows the fortunes of various noble houses in what amounts to a feudal interstellar society.

We've been waiting to catch a glimpse of Dune: Part 2, the second part of Denis Villeneuve's visually stunning, ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi novel. Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya are back for Dune: Part 2.

Dune novel