Feast your eyes on the very first official trailer and images from Denis Villeneuve‘s highly anticipated sci-fi sequel, Dune: Part Two. It’s been a while since the filming for the sequel concluded and with the November 3 release date drawing closer, the Canadian filmmaker is ready to let the cat out of the bag. Vanity Fair recently dropped the exclusive first look at film, which will pick up the pieces from exactly where we last saw them. While talking to the publication about the upcoming film, Villeneuve made it clear that the movie is not a sequel, but more of a second part.
“I wanted the movie to really open just where we left the characters. There’s no time jump. I wanted dramatic continuity with part one,” he expresses.
Vanity Fair’s first-look imagery as well as the trailer reveals all the returning and new characters while also teasing the sequel’s overarching plot. Amongst the lot, the character/actor that steals the limelight is the Elvis star Austin Butler, who will play Paul Atreides’ arch adversary, Emperor Shaddam IV’s nephew and intended successor on Arrakis, Feyd-Rautha.
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As per Villeneuve, Butler’s characterisation of Feyd-Rautha is a “cross between a psychotic, sociopath serial killer and Mick Jagger.” While the first-look imagery doesn’t reveal much, we do catch a glimpse of Butler’s Rautha from behind as he holds his legendary twin blades. “He’s someone Machiavellian, much more cruel, much more strategic, and is more narcissistic,” Villeneuve explained of the character. “(His brother) Rabban finds himself, at the end of part one, in the position where he doesn’t have the brain to be able to manage and control all these operations. Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is a very clever, very charismatic figure, and much more brilliant.”
Besides the main antagonist, Vanity Fair’s first look photos also show us Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, who now has glowing, icy blue eyes as he teams up with the Fremen and absorbs Arrakis’ “spice.” Zendaya’s Chani, who is Chalamet’s Atreides’ love interest also pops in the images and will apparently have a much bigger role in the sequel. “She’s not just in dreams this time,” Zendaya said about Chani at CinemaCon. “I only got a small time to learn who she was (in the first film), and now I feel like she’s a part of myself.”
Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Zendaya as Chani | Image: Vanity Fair
As per Chalamet, Chani is the “key to his own” character’s arc in Dune: Part Two. “The universe of Dune is a complex world of geopolitics and with tons of ecological and technological metaphors that hold up today,” he stated. “But at the centre, there’s this relationship where Chani sort of becomes a moral compass.”
In addition to Timothée Chalamet, Austin Butler and Zendaya, Dune: Part Two will see the return of Rebecca Ferguson as Paul’s mother and Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, who is House Atreides’ weapons master and mentor to Paul. Stellan Skarsgard is also set to return as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban and Javier Bardem as Stilgar, the leader of the native Arakis tribe.
Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck | Image: Vanity Fair
Besides the returning cast, the sequel will see the addition of a bunch of high-profile names to the cast, including Christopher Walken, who is all set to play the villainous Emperor Shaddam IV, Florence Pugh as Emperor Shaddam IV’s daughter Princess Irulan as well as Lea Seydoux as Lady Margot, a Bene Gesserit and dear friend of the Emperor. In the film, Florence Pugh’s Irulan will turn into a key figure in both Paul Atreides’ life and his legacy as mythological saviour Kwisatz Haderach.
Margot Fenring aka Lady Margot is a Bene Gesserit sister and will be a “secret agent” who does not “think about what’s good or what is evil,” according to Villeneuve. For Seydoux’s Lady Margot, “What is important is to bring humanity to its full potential and to try to create a being that will bring humanity to enlightenment.”
Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan | Image: Vanity Fair
Villeneuve is billing Dune: Part Two as a “war epic action movie” and even went on to reveal that he made sure that the love story (between Chalamet’s Atreides and Zendaya’s Chani) did not overwhelm the whole thing. “I wanted to make a very human movie, very close to the characters, despite the scope of the film,” he said. “I kept saying to my crew, ‘The most important thing is that spark, that relationship between both of these characters.’ If we don’t capture that, if we don’t have that onscreen, there’s no movie. The epicentre of the story is this relationship.”
The upcoming sequel is the second of a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fantasy novel ‘Dune’ and has been adapted by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth. With Dune: Part Two hitting theatres on November 3, we can’t wait to land back on the planet of Arrakis and catch up with Paul Atreides as he gears up to finish his adventure.
Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | Image: Vanity Fair
Lea Seydoux as Lady Margot | Image: Vanity Fair
Javier Bardem as Stilga | Image: Vanity Fair
Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica | Image: Vanity Fair
Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban | Image: Vanity Fair
