All 3 screen adaptations of Dune made so far, ranked

1. Dune: Part One (2021) and Part Two (2024)

Denis Villeneuve, the filmmaker behind movies like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, put out the first film in his two-part adaptation of Dune in 2021. This version finally strikes the right balance. Like the TV show, the Dune movies are long enough to tell the complete story. But Villeneuve has the resources to tell that story with the kind of visual splendor they deserve. The movies are full of rapturously beautiful shots of the desert, terrifying images of gigantic sandworms, imaginativey realized designs for spaceships and costumes, and much more. You could watch these movies on mute and still have a pretty good time.

The cast is almost distractingly fantastic. Timothée Chalamet plays Paul, and finally the character looks closer to the age he is in the book. (Chalamet isn't actually much younger than McLaughlin and Newman were when they played Paul, but he can play younger, which is enough.) Beyond Paul, Villenueve has cast his movies with actors who are both well-known and well-suited for the parts: Rebecca Ferguson is Paul's mother Jessica, Oscar Isaac is Duke Leto, Jason Momoa is swordsman Duncan Idaho, Josh Brolin is Gurney Halleck, Zendaya is Chani, Florench Pugh is Irulan, Javier Bardem as Fremen leader Stilgar...I could go on. It's one of the best casts ever assembled for a modern blockbuster.

Villeneuve strays further from the source material than the Sci-Fi series, but not as far as Lynch. All of the most important themes from Herbert's novel come through here, especially his concerns about charismatic leaders inspiring fanaticism they may not be able to control. That theme really comes home in Dune: Part Two, which opens this weekend.

With Villeneuve's Dune movies, we have adaptations I think will please most fans. It may be a very long while before we'll need another adaptation. Sequels are another matter:

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels