Dune Director Says The Sequel Could Shoot Next Year

Denis Villenueve’s Dune finally held its world premiere yesterday at the Venice Film Festival, and it would be fair to say the early reactions have been enthusiastic. The latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal novel has been labeled as a masterpiece, a generational cinematic event and one of 2021’s best movies by far, but it also hasn’t been without criticism.

Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find several of those in attendance criticizing Dune for only telling half a story, and ending on an incomplete note. Of course, that’s to be expected when Villenueve has stated on countless occasions that he’s leaving the door open for a sequel, which will tackle the latter half of the source novel. It’s a risky strategy, and one that could backfire should the sci-fi epic fail to perform at the box office, leaving the movie as sequel bait with no payoff.

In a new interview, Villenueve admitted that should Warner Bros. pull the trigger and give Dune: Part 2 the green light shortly after the film’s simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max release on October 22nd, he’d realistically be ready to have the project in front of cameras in a matter of months.

“I would say that I would be fairly ready to go quite quickly now. Quickly in terms of a movie of that size. You still need to make sets and costumes, we are talking about months. But if there’s enthusiasm and the movie is green lit, sooner than later I will say that I will be ready to shoot 2022 for sure. I am ready to go and I would say that I would love to bring it to the screen as soon as possible.”

When you think about it, the filmmaker already has a lot of costumes, sets, digital models and such ready to go, and the principal cast have presumably all signed on for two movies. Looking at the sheer wealth of talent involved in Dune, though, scheduling might be the biggest obstacle towards getting the band back together in 2022.