Dune walked away with six Oscars at the 94th Academy Awards, winning for cinematography, editing, score, visual effects, production design, and sound. This puts a capstone on the ambitious science-fiction epic’s success, following it picking up rave reviews and a very healthy box office.
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures quickly greenlit Dune: Part Two, which will conclude the story of Frank Herbert’s classic science-fiction novel and show Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides truly becoming the Muad’Dib.
Anyone who’s read the book will know that there’s some incredible action to come, though comments by production designer Patrice Vermette indicate that at least some of this was originally planned for Part One. Speaking with Vulture after his Oscar triumph, he said:
“We were initially going to go further into the story. Throughout preproduction, the script moves, it finds its place. It’s never definite until a certain time. So during the soft prep, there were areas of the screenplay that we did not end up covering when we locked the script and decided to shoot. … there are elements already designed that will be in Part Two.”
We got a tease of some of this in Paul’s premonition of a future battle with the Harkonnen troops, teasing full desert combat, sandworm riding, and some very stylish armor. Denis Villeneuve has confirmed that Dune: Part Two will begin shooting this year, with the production accelerated as elements like costumes, set design, and VFX assets are able to be re-used from the first movie.
Here’s hoping that Dune: Part Two is as big a success as the 2021 film. Perhaps beyond that, we can start looking at the truly bizarre Herbert sequels, like Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune. Let’s get Chalamet and Zendaya back in their still suits as soon as possible.
Dune is available to stream on Disney Plus.
