The sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic, Dune, will begin filming as early as July 2022, a producer on the project has confirmed.
As first reported by The Film Stage’s Josh Encias, Mary Parent, a producer on Dune: Part Two, revealed at a recent Q&A event with the Screen Actors Guild that shooting on the anticipated follow-up movie would start on July 18, 2022.
The news comes just a few weeks after Dune: Part Two was given the green light by Warner Bros. following Part One’s impressive box office performance. Since its October release, Villeneuve’s first installment has taken over $330 million worldwide.
The sequel is scheduled to arrive in October 2023.
The producer of #Dune Part 2 just revealed they will begin filming on July 18, 2022. pic.twitter.com/Ul21wYIvJsNovember 7, 2021
Alongside its promising financial returns, Dune has been met with generally positive critical reception, too, with praise heaped upon Villeneuve’s faithful translation of the scale and complexity of Frank Herbert’s original story.
The main qualm, though, for reviewers and audiences alike, has been Dune’s lack of finality and over-reliance on a follow-up movie. We echoed that sentiment in our own review of the film:
“Dune aspires to do justice to its source material, and it does so with aplomb. If Dune: Part Two is similarly faithful, there’s every chance that Villeneuve’s adaptation, like Herbert’s book, can become the director’s seminal work of art. Unless that second movie gets the go-ahead, though, Dune feels a tad incomplete.”
With Part Two confirmed and a shooting date set, then, we’re excited to see how Villeneuve handles the more exciting – but arguably more challenging – parts of Herbert’s novel.
What can we expect from Dune: Part Two?
Spoilers follow for Frank Herbert's Dune novel.
For those unfamiliar with the source material, the events of Dune: Part Two will be a mystery until October 2023.
Broadly speaking, though, the sequel will follow the now-Duke Paul Atreides as he integrates with the Fremen and begins his journey to becoming the messianic Muad'dib – all while trying to prevent the violent future he's witnessed in his dreams.
Villeneuve smartly lays clues about the events of Dune: Part Two using Paul’s visions throughout the first film, with several sequences – the desert battle, for instance – teasing the more action-heavy moments in Herbert’s story.
The director not only employs these (perhaps overly frequent) dream scenes as a narrative tool throughout the film – proof of Paul’s role as the Muad'dib – but also as a means of teasing Dune’s sequel, as if like breadcrumbs leading towards an even better follow-up movie.
Those left disappointed by Dune’s abrupt end and lack of dramatic tension, then, should rest assured that Dune: Part Two is primed to deliver on the promise of Hertbert’s Game of Thrones-level intrigue and Star Wars-level action.
“This is only the beginning,” Chani tells us at the end of Dune – let's hope she's right.
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