After what felt like a million different (very justified) COVID-19-related delays, Dune, the sci-fi epic starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, and a whole list of other celebs you love, finally arrived in November 2021. And the biggest twist of the whole movie was that it was…not the whole movie. It was just part one. At least, that’s what it said in the opening credits. Which begs the question: Are we getting Dune: Part Two? And if so, when? Here’s everything we know so far.
(1) We are getting Dune: Part Two, and (2) there’s a trailer:
Before we get into every detail of this movie, let’s just put the most important thing up here:
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This movie looks… epic. Okay, now to the whole backstory of how this happened.
The director always envisioned Dune as a two-part movie.
It might seem like a bit of a rip-off to walk into a movie and not get the full story, but that was basically always the plan with this particular film. Denis Villeneuve, who directed Dune, always wanted to break the book it’s based on into two parts when adapting it.
“I would not agree to make this adaptation of the book with one single movie,” Villeneuve told Vanity Fair in a first look at the movie way back in 2020. “The world is too complex. It’s a world that takes its power in details.”
And the second part was confirmed.
They didn’t shoot both of the movies at one time, and with the way COVID-19 has impacted the movie industry, it was a little up in the air whether the second movie would happen. But it seems there IS a god, because Timothée posted this to his Instagram last year:
It did feel like this was fairly inevitable. Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studio and Networks Group, which is the studio behind Dune, told Variety how they would determine whether or not the sequel would happen last week.
“The story in itself sets up for a sequel. The production is so amazing and the storytelling is so compelling that it’s not going to be judged on box office alone,” she said. The decision was based on “the entirety of what Dune can do for the company, including HBO Max.” Well, it seems like it must have been a success in all those very vague categories!
Florence Pugh has a role.
She’s playing Princess Irulan, the daughter of the emperor who sent House Atreides to Arrakis in the first place. I haven’t read the book Dune is based on, but some sources are saying (read: the internet) that Princess Irulan and Paul Atreides become romantically involved. Hubba—and I cannot stress this enough—hubba.
And Austin Butler is also joining.
Austin Butler, Oscar nominee and the star of the Elvis movie, is playing Feyd-Rautha, who is the nephew of the Baron Harkonnen. Apparently, the character is just as cruel as his uncle, who, the last time I checked, was taking a bath in a tub of goo or something.
While this is amazing news for Austin fans, there is some devastating context here:
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What could have been!!
Dune: Part Two has a confirmed release date.
It’s slated for March 14, 2024, which is later than originally anticipated. The movie was delayed in August 2023 amid strikes, and its initial release date was supposed to be November 3, 2023 (almost exactly two years after the first installment hit theaters).
We’ll be getting other Dune spin-offs too.
Dune: The Sisterhood, which is a prequel series based on the book, is in the works at HBO Max already. So the company is already planning on expanding this universe, à la Marvel.
Senior Entertainment Editor
Emma Baty is the Senior Entertainment Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she shapes TV, movie and music coverage, writes celebrity profiles, edits stories across both print and digital, and generally obsesses over all things pop culture. Prior to this role, she worked as Cosmopolitan.com’s News Writer, writing celebrity news stories daily and covering live events like the Oscars. Originally from Grand Haven, Michigan, she currently lives in Brooklyn.