Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Everything we know about the movie so far

Dune Official Trailer

Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of the most popular and influential science-fiction novels ever published, and Oscar-nominated Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival director Denis Villeneuve is bringing it back to the big screen.

Villeneuve has promised that his adaptation of Dune will be a more faithful take on the source material than prior adaptations, and he’s assembled an all-star cast to make it a reality. Here’s everything we know about Villeneuve’s Dune so far, including its new release date of October 22, 2021.

New TV spot

A Chinese TV spot includes a ton of new footage and dialogue, giving us an even more in-depth look at the upcoming film.

Dune (2021) Exclusive Chinese Trailer (HD)

New character teasers

New character-related teasers have been released on Twitter for Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, and Wellington Yueh.

“A great man doesn’t seek to lead, he’s called to it.” #DuneMovie coming October 22. https://t.co/C8VQImPcoX pic.twitter.com/1VyZI2fTLX

— DUNE (@dunemovie) August 13, 2021

“Spice is a psychoactive chemical, you seem to be sensitive” #DuneMovie coming October 22. https://t.co/D21Ilp31wo pic.twitter.com/0v1COxMi18

— DUNE (@dunemovie) August 13, 2021

“You fight when the necessity arises.” #DuneMovie coming October 22. https://t.co/EzOyXQFmRR pic.twitter.com/eVDEwocm5Q

— DUNE (@dunemovie) August 13, 2021

“Let’s fight like demons.” #DuneMovie coming October 22. https://t.co/QjqY6feWif pic.twitter.com/A7flXEPei3

— DUNE (@dunemovie) August 13, 2021

“With my life.” #DuneMovie coming October 22. https://t.co/CVUm4OenYL pic.twitter.com/meCrvcW4QR

— DUNE (@dunemovie) August 13, 2021

Main trailer

Dune | Official Main Trailer

Almost a year after the first trailer dropped, Warner Bros. released a new main trailer for Dune on July 22, 2021. The trailer gives us a greater view of the unforgiving desert planet Arrakis and greater insight into Timothée Chalamet’s protagonist Paul Atreides as he faces off against Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and himself.

Despite years of training to inherit House Atreides, Paul now sees his home begin to crumble as the villainous Harkonnen and his nephew Glossu (Dave Bautista) launch a war to wrest control of Arrakis — which is home to an extremely valuable element — from House Atreides. In his mission to save his family, Paul soon discovers a larger destiny that could shape the lives of not only the native people of Arrakis, but the entire universe as well.

Day-and-date release

In December 2020, Variety revealed that Warner Bros. will release its entire 2021 slate day-and-date on HBO Max. That includes Dune after it was moved from its original 2020 release date.

Previously, Dune was moved from a December 18, 2020, premiere to an October 22, 2021, premiere. The move was made on the heels of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Tenet failing to bring audiences back to movie theaters amid the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 270,000 people in the U.S. alone, and the news that Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld will close all of its theaters in the U.S. again.

In August, when Dune still had a December 18 release date, Villeneuve revealed to Indiewire that he intended to “sprint to finish” the film in order to stay on schedule. “I was planning to go back and shoot some elements later because I wanted to readjust the movie. I needed time,” he said. “At the time I didn’t know that it would be a pandemic … as we were about to go back to do those elements. The impact was that it crushed my schedule right now. It will be a sprint to finish the movie on time right now, because we were allowed to go back to shoot those elements in a few weeks … it meant also that I have to finish some elements of the movie, like VFX and the editing, being in Montreal as my crew stayed in Los Angeles.”

Baron Harkonnen

We’ve known for some time that Stellan Skarsgard would play Baron Harkonnen, the villainous head of House Harkonnen, but Skarsgard is a clean-cut, trim man. Harkonnen, in canon, is not. Now, we finally have our first look at Harkonnen from an unexpected source: His action figure. ComingSoon.net broke the first image of the morbidly obese, although apparently less sweaty Harkonnen.

Dune’s Baron Harkonnen Fully Revealed Via New Action Figurehttps://t.co/tijBCESNmT

— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) September 17, 2020

The first trailer

On September 9, the first trailer for Dune entered the world. The premiere was preceded by a behind-the-scenes presentation of the film hosted by Stephen Colbert for Twitter Movies. A number of cast members and people involved in the film, including director Villeneuve, discussed the filmmaking process, the source material, and some of the challenges in reviving Dune.

Timothée. Rebecca. Oscar. Josh. Zendaya. Sharon. Jason. Javier. Denis. DUNE TRAILER FIRST LOOK. 👀 https://t.co/ePHY6aGem4

— Twitter Movies (@TwitterMovies) September 9, 2020

The images

Empire Magazine’s newest cover features the stars of Dune and includes a first look at Villeneuve’s depiction of the gargantuan sandworms of Arrakis.

This month’s subscriber cover, created exclusively for Empire in collaboration with the filmmakers behind #Dune, is a terrifying glimpse at the colossal sandworms of Arrakis. READ MORE: https://t.co/WYPn8ISZU2 pic.twitter.com/3w92hRsDrB

— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) August 28, 2020

New images on Twitter show stills of Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), and Stilgar (Javier Bardem) — all also from Empire Magazine’s cover story.

Lady Jessica and Duke Leto. #DuneMovie pic.twitter.com/2Zik6thtb2

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) September 1, 2020

Stilgar, the voice of the Fremen. #DuneMovie pic.twitter.com/QbkcONvBV4

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) September 1, 2020

Reshoots beginning

As much of the world began to open back up from the coronavirus pandemic, Rebecca Ferguson revealed on Instagram that she’s heading back to Budapest for reshoots on Dune. Based on her caption, it sounds like she won’t be alone.

The first look

Warner Bros. Pictures released the first look at Dune in April 2020, via a preview of the film published by Vanity Fair.

The preview included some quotes from Villeneuve and star Timothée Chalamet about the experience of working on the film, as well as the first photo of Chalamet as Paul Atreides, the young aristocrat who finds his life on the desert planet Arrakis thrown into chaos when his family is targeted by rivals.

Your first look at Timothée Chalamet in #Dune is here: https://t.co/VPrnJ6AGNd

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) April 13, 2020

The cast

In February 2019, reports confirmed that Legendary Pictures added a superstar trio to Dune‘s cast. Josh Brolin, who menaced the Avengers as Thanos, will play Paul Atreides’ mentor, Gurney Halleck.

Meanwhile, Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac will trade his X-Wing for a sandworm to play Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides, and Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa (below), will reportedly play Duncan Idaho, the only character to appear in all six of Herbert’s Dune novels.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The aforementioned actors will join Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name, Beautiful Boy), who will star in Dune as Paul Atreides, the central figure in Herbert’s original novel. Actress Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible, The Greatest Showman) will play Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica, a royal concubine with a rebellious streak.

As if the cast wasn’t filled with enough familiar faces, Dave Bautista — no stranger to either space operas or Villeneuve films — joined the cast of Dune in January 2019. Around the same time, Thor and Good Will Hunting actor Stellan Skarsgard was announced in the role of Dune villain Baron Harkonnen, the story’s vicious antagonist and head of the rival family that rips apart Paul’s privileged life.

Finally, Ferguson’s The Greatest Showman co-star (and Spider-Man franchise actress) Zendaya will also play a role in the film, as will No Country for Old Men villain Javier Bardem. The latter will play Stilgar, the leader of the indigenous population of the desert planet known as the Fremen.

The story

Dune takes place on the desert planet Arrakis, the only place in the galaxy where spice — the most valuable substance in the universe — can be found. In the world of Dune, the drug-like melange is a cornerstone of human society and also facilitates interstellar travel by imbuing its users with a form of prescience.

The feudal empire overseeing the various planets will do anything to control the supply of spice, making it a powerful bargaining chip in the empire’s politics.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Herbert’s Dune follows the noble family Atreides as they take stewardship of Arrakis, the harsh desert planet where spice is produced. Their place of power soon puts them in the crosshairs of rival families, and young heir Paul Atreides eventually finds himself on the run after an attack on his family.

The story follows Paul’s adventure on Arrakis among the native Fremen, a mysterious culture that lives in the desert environment, and the gradual awakening of the powerful abilities that will help him lead a rebellion.

Villeneuve’s first Dune movie will only cover half of the original novel, and the director says “the goal is to make two films, maybe more,” to tell Dune‘s complete story.

The legacy

Frank Herbert’s Dune is one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time for a reason — but it has had a difficult time making the leap from page to screen. As chronicled in the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky first tried to turn the book into a film in the 1970s, but was stymied by a lack of funds and a script “the size of a phone book.”

Alicia Witt in Dune (1984)
Image used with permission by copyright holder

David Lynch brought Dune to theaters (above) in 1984 with Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, and Sting in key roles, but his take was a commercial and critical failure despite its ongoing cult appeal. A Sci-Fi Channel miniseries released in 2000 gave the story more room to breathe and hewed closer to the source material, but failed to make much of a long-term impact.

Early reports suggest that’s something Villeneuve will adjust in his adaptation of Dune. While Villeneuve respects Lynch’s vision, he told Yahoo! Movies (by way of Indiewire) that the upcoming film will be “going back to the book, and going to the images that came out when I read it.”

Editors' Recommendations

Stephanie Topacio Long
Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
10 interesting facts about The Flash movie you should know
Ezra Miller begins to run in The Flash.

The Scarlet Speedster is no stranger to live-action DC entertainment. After all, fans of the CW's Arrowverse just spent a decade with Grant Gustin's iteration of the character during his highest highs and lowest of lows as a superhero in Central City. Ezra Miller's take on the Flash may prove divisive simply due to the hefty controversial baggage that follows the embattled actor in the media. Regardless, the Barry Allen of the DCEU was undoubtedly initiated into the fight against evil with his induction into the Justice League to help combat Steppenwolf, Darkseid's underling -- the true villainous powerhouse in the DC universe. Now, Miller is the leading man in his own film as the Flash alongside two Batmen and a revamped Supergirl.

The Flash was always meant to shake things up in the DCEU. for better or worse. After learning that the comic book event Flashpoint would be the basis of the film -- it's a story in which Barry alters reality by traveling through time to save his mom -- there wasn't any question that the ramifications of this storyline would reverberate throughout the DCEU. And with the DCEU label dead and buried, and the forthcoming James Gunn-led DCU set to bring about a new dawn for the heroes of DC, The Flash may create even more ripples than we initially thought. With the film upon us, you might be interested to learn a few facts surrounding the film as you head into your local theater.
1. The Flash is director Andy Muschietti's first big-budget film outside of horror

Read more
Everything we know about Loki season 2
Loki and Mobius look at something in Loki.

After a blockbuster first season that seemed to be a pivotal chapter in the next phase of Marvel storytelling, we've had to wait a long two years for the second season of Loki. Now that Sylvie has killed "He Who Remains" and opened the world up to his many variants, season 2 seems like it's going to be filled with even more time-travel shenanigans than the first installment.

While we've already gotten a tease for what season 2 of Loki could contain in post-credits scenes at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there's still plenty that fans don't know about what the second season will involve. Here's everything we know about Loki season 2?
What is Loki season 2 going to be about?

Read more
Everything we know about Avengers: Secret Wars
The title logo for Avengers: Secret Wars.

Now that we're well into Phase 5, there are some diehard MCU fans who are already looking forward to Avengers: Secret Wars. We still have a few years before were scheduled to get to that film, which will be the final movie in Phase 6, but Marvel's got a plan, and we know some of the details of it.

Below, we've tried to compile everything we know about Secret Wars, including what might happen in it, who the key characters are likely to be, as well as key information about the movie's cast and release date. To be clear, there's still plenty we don't know about the project, including who will ultimately be responsible for directing it. For now, though here's everything we know about Avengers: Secret Wars.
What will Avengers: Secret Wars be about?

Read more