For literally years now, we’ve wondered if director Denis Villeneuve was going to get a chance to complete his adaptation of Dune, Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 science fiction book. The first movie just came out over the weekend (and is doing quite well financially), but it only adapts half of the book. It’s been an open question whether Warner Bros. and Legendary would let Villeneuve do the rest.
And now it’s answered. The Hollywood Reporter has it that Dune: Part Two is officially a go. “Legendary is pleased to officially move forward with Dune: Part Two…once again based on the amazing books written by Frank Herbert,” Legendary said in a statement. “We would not have gotten to this point without the extraordinary vision of Denis and the amazing work of his talented crew, the writers, our stellar cast, our partners at Warner Bros., and of course the fans! Here’s to more Dune.”
Villeneuve himself is also psyched. As he said in his own statement:
"I just received news from Legendary that we are officially moving forward with Dune: Part Two. It was a dream of mine to adapt Frank Herbert’s Dune and I have the fans, the cast, and crew, Legendary and Warner Bros. to thank for supporting this dream. This is only the beginning."
And that’s not to mention the all-star cast, which includes Timothée Chalamet (Paul Atreides), Zendaya (Chani), Josh Brolin (Gurney Halleck), Dave Bautista (Glossu Rabban) and others; they must be over the moon right now.
When does Dune: Part Two come out?
Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich even gave us a release date: Dune: Part Two will be out in October of 2023. When it lands, it will be in theaters first and on HBO Max later. This first film dropped onto the streaming service at the same time that it landed in theaters, but that’s an experiment only designed to last through the end of the year.
Granted, October of 2023 is a while off, but the first film was difficult to make and it will take time to get everyone together to do the second. And who knows? Maybe in the meantime Dune will get so popular that the studios will give Villeneuve the green light to make the third film he’s dreaming about:
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