Dune: Part Two may be delayed into 2024

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two may have been planned for release later this year, but amidst the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes in Hollywood, Warner Bros. Discovery is now rethinking its release schedule.

Three individuals close to the project released this information to Variety, relaying that the sci-fi epic could be pushed from its November 3, 2023 release date into some unknown future date in 2024. Although no formal discussions have been had, and at present we can still assume that the November 3 date remains the plan unless we get an official statement, actors aren’t allowed to promote the movie during the strike, which is possibly why there are whispers of the release date changing.

Dune: Part Two stars the likes of Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Javier Bardem, Christopher Walken and Josh Brolin, so the studio would hugely benefit from the stars being available for interviews and promotion. However, current union restrictions mean that when a strike is ongoing, the actors are not able to promote their work. At the moment, no one knows when the strike may end.

It is not just Dune: Part Two which could be having its release date changed. Both Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a DC Studios film, and The Color Purple, which features Oprah Winfrey as a producer, may be pushed back as well. These films are due for release on December 25 and December 20 respectively. The fact that studios are considering whether films in December need to be pushed back suggests that they don’t see the strikes coming to an end any time soon.

Actors strike may prevent Star Wars: Andor from finishing its second season

Meanwhile, other productions are being shut down before they even have release dates. For instance, Deadline reports that Star Wars: Andor may be able to finish filming its second season due to too many actors on strike.

Things get a little complicated here. You see, only actors in SAG-AFTRA — the American actors union — are on strike. But actors in Equity, the British actors union, are not. Andor has actors from both unions. According to Deadline, the current plan is to keep filming with the Equity actors for as long as they can, but once they need the SAG actors, they’ll probably have to close up shop.

Stuff like this will continue to happen until the unions and studios reach a fair deal. Let’s hope that happens sooner rather than later.

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