Denis Villeneuve says Dune 2 will “deliver” on the promise of the first
While fans may be disappointed about the 2024 release date, director Denis Villeneuve has recently assured that the follow-up to his science fiction epic will “deliver” on the premise of the first instalment.
Based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, the first Dune film was seen as a huge gambit. David Lynch’s infamous adaptation in 1984 is still regarded as a critical and commercial failure, and to complicate things further, Villeneuve pitched the adaptation to Warner Bros as a two-part series.
Dune even made the bold move to include the sub-title ‘Part One’ at the beginning, despite a second instalment having not been officially greenlit by the studio. Nevertheless, the film was an astounding success, winning critics and audiences alike and ensuring that a Part Two could happen.
Speaking to Empire for their upcoming October issue, the director couldn’t contain his excitement. Dune: Part Two will pick things up immediately from where Part One left off, which had Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides setting off into the desert with the Fremen tribe, lead by Stilgar (played by Javier Bardem) and Chani (Zendaya).
“Part One was like the promise of something,” Villeneuve admitted, “But Part Two delivers on that. I’m exhausted, but a happy director.” The director explained the differences between the two films, saying, “The first movie was more contemplative – a young man discovering a world. Here, it’s a war movie.”
“At the very core is a love story between Paul and Chani,” Villeneuve explained. “How Paul will gain her trust, how she will open her heart to him, and how they will find a way to free Chani’s world from the Harkonnen grip. It’s a much more emotional movie.”
Dune: Part Two will introduce Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha, nephew to Stellan Skarsgård’s terrifying Baron Harkonnen, Christopher Walken as the Emperor and Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan. Due to the ongoing strikes, the release date has been pushed back from late 2023 to early 2024.
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