The first action-packed trailer for Dune: Part 2 is finally here

We’ve been waiting to get a glimpse of Dune: Part 2, the second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s visually stunning, ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s groundbreaking sci-fi novel. Warner Bros. today released the first official trailer, featuring Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides riding a sandworm to gain the respect of the Fremen, as well as introducing House Harkonnen’s nefarious new villain.

(Some spoilers ahead Dune: part 1 below.)

As we previously reported (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. Much of the action takes place on the planet Arrakis, where the economy is largely driven by a rare, life-prolonging drug called melange (“the spice”). Melange also exudes a kind of foresight and makes faster-than-light travel practical. There’s betrayal, a prophecy of a messianic figure, giant sandworms and battle after battle, as protagonist Paul Atreides (the son of a duke) battles rival House Harkonnen and strives to defeat the forces of Shaddam IV, Emperor of the Known Universe. defeat.

Dune is notoriously difficult to adapt — as David Lynch discovered when he directed his critically panned 1984 film adaptation — but Villeneuve found that splitting the novel in two did the trick. The first film dealt with events in the first half of the novel, and Dune: Part 2 relates to events in the second half. But Part 2 was not automatically guaranteed; it depended on how well the first film performed, and Dune: Part 1 had the misfortune of falling headlong into the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in several release date delays. 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 period of 31 days), it predicted that this could result in the film underperforming at the box office (“piracy will eventually triumph”), leading to a cancellation of the planned follow-up.

Despite the stacked odds, Part 1 grossed more than $400 million worldwide against a $165 million budget, earned critical acclaim (you can read the mostly positive Ars review here), and garnered 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It won six Oscars: Best Sound, Original Score, Film Editing, Production Design, Visual Effects and Cinematography. So of course Warner Bros. green light for the sequel.

Part 1‘s finale left Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) presumed dead in the rugged desert of Arrakis, after fleeing their home when Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) betrayed the family and Paul’s father, Leto (Oscar Isaac ), killed. They were taken in by the Fremen, the original inhabitants of the planet, including Chani (Zendaya), a girl who had appeared in Paul’s dreams/visions.

All remaining principles of Part 1 reprise their roles Part 2: Chalamet, Zendaya, Ferguson, Skarsgård, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen, Charlotte Rampling as the Reverend Mother Mohiam and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat. New cast members include Christopher Walken as Shaddam IV, Emperor of House Corrine; Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan; Austin Butler as Harkonnen’s younger cousin, Feyd-Rautha, heir presumptive to Arrakis; Lea Seydoux as Lady Margot, a Bene Gesserit close to the Emperor; and Souheila Yacoub as a Fremen warrior named Shishakli.

According to the official premise:

Dune: part two will explore the mythical journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen as he embarks on a warpath of vengeance against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Faced with a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he tries to prevent a terrible future that only he can foresee.

Variety recently unveiled an exclusive sneak peek of Part 2, which coincides with an exclusive showing of the full trailer at Cinemacon in Las Vegas. (It was only released to the public today.) Villeneuve described Part 2 as “an action-packed, epic war movie,” more compact and less contemplative than Part 1and the entire film was shot in IMAX (compared to 40 percent of the first film).

We barely saw Zendaya’s Chani inside Part 1, so it’s nice to see her getting a lot more screen time in the trailer, as her romance with Paul blossoms. It looks like some tension is brewing between Paul and Lady Jessica (now with facial tattoos), and we see Pugh’s Princess Irulan speculating that this might not be the end of House Atreides, as there’s a chance Paul is still alive – which he is, of course. is. There’s also a fiery scene that might just be Harkonnen’s forces setting fire to Caladan, the homeworld of House Atreides.

While Paul was young and still very much a student in the first movie, in Part 2, he is now well on his way to becoming Muad’Dib, prophet of the freemen. The obvious highlight of the trailer is the sequence that shows Paul’s first ride on a sandworm – basically waterskiing across the sand, despite Stilgar’s advice to keep things simple and avoid fancy moves. It is an important rite of passage in Fremen culture. In another scene, he prepares for a crysknife battle with Butler’s Feyd-Rautha (“May your blade chip and shatter”), his eyes now the same icy blue hue as the Fremen due to the regular consumption of herbs. The trailer ends with Paul acknowledging the cheers of thousands of Fremen.

Dune: Part 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on November 3, 2023.

Frame image by YouTube/Warner Bros.