Movie studios are more determined than ever to find the next big franchise. With multiple movies and a growing number of TV shows, Marvel is at the head of this movement, but others are catching up. There’s a growing number of Star Wars series coming to Disney+, HBO is developing several Game of Thrones spinoffs, and so on.
Warner Bros. has another franchise in the wings, a sci-fi series that could rival Star Wars: Dune. Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune movie will bring to life Frank Herbert’s classic novel about a desert planet at the center of a galactic conflict. It’s one of the most expansive, detailed, and complex works in science fiction. If the Dune franchise takes off, it could provide Warner Bros. with great content for years to come.
The first movie, which will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22, will adapt the first half of Herbert’s novel, with (hopefully) a second part to follow. And if those movies are successful, Warner Bros. has a lot more material to work with. Herbert wrote five more books in the series after the first: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune. And after Frank Herbert died in 1986, his son Brian teamed with writer Kevin J. Anderson to write 17 more Dune books.
And the studio already has a Dune TV project in the works for HBO Max: Dune: The Sisterhood will revolve around the Bene Gesserit, a powerful, all-female organization whose members use their highly developed skills to manipulate rulers throughout the galaxy.
Could the upcoming Dune movie be a springboard for the next big sci-fi franchise? Warner Bros. clearly hopes so, and it was reason to be optimistic.
The cast of Dune is out of this world
Much has been made of the cast of Dune. From Timothée Chalamet as hero Paul Atreides to Oscar Isaac as his father Leto to Zendaya as Fremen warrior Chani, fans are ecstatic to see so many brilliant actors taking on major roles in the Dune franchise.
However, there’s been confusion surrounding certain important characters that don’t appear to be in the movie or, if they are in it, have been kept secret for one reason or another. Feyd Rautha, famously played by Sting in David Lynch’s 1984 Dune movie, is not present. Baron Harkonnen’s nephew plays an important role as a foil to Paul Atreides. Rautha is a vicious killer who Paul faces in single combat at the story’s climax. It has been speculated that the movie will combine Rautha with Dave Bautista’s character Glossu Rabban, a minor character in the book.
Even more notable is the absence of Princess Irulan and her father Shaddam IV, the emperor of the galaxy. Irulan is a narrator in the first book and a vital supporting character in the sequel novels, although it looks like her narrator role in the first movie may have been given to Chani. It’s very possible that these two characters simply won’t appear in the first movie but are on tap for the second, but still, be on the lookout for casting announcements, as they will give a good idea as to what the expansion of the Dune franchise may look like.
The power of Jason Momoa
In the key role of House Atreides swordmaster Duncan Idaho, Warner Bros. has cast Game of Thrones veteran Jason Momoa, one of the hottest actors working in Hollywood today. This is important to the movie’s franchise potential. To understand why, we need to talk about SPOILERS.
Fans of the original novel know that Duncan Idaho dies in the first half of the book. The valiant soldier sacrifices his life to save Paul and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and is absent for the rest of the novel. The story goes that Herbert had intended for the character’s story to end there, but he enjoyed writing Idaho so much that he decided to bring him back in future books. In Dune: Messiah, Idaho is brought back to life as a “ghola” named Hayt as part of a plot to destroy Paul. Some version of Idaho will play an essential role in every book that follows, even though thousands of years can pass between entries.
Idaho is the only character who appears in every book, meaning that Momoa will have a lot of work ahead of him if the Dune franchise takes off. And Warner Bros. could do far worse than making a popular actor like Momoa the frontman for the series. If the studio has plans for the Dune movies, then Momoa is at the center of them. For Dune fans, the future is very bright.
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