MOVIE NEWS – Initially scheduled for the end of 2020, Dune was postponed for about a year due to the coronavirus epidemic, so it was only last October (September in some lucky countries) that we got to see what Canadian-born director Denis Villeneuve, who partly shot his film in Hungary, had created with Frank Herbert’s unfilmable novel.

Although critics and audiences alike loved the beginning of Paul Atreides’ adventures, most agreed that the story felt a little unfinished, despite the marathon running time, since Villeneuve only adapted the first half of the first novel, so there is plenty more to tell in the sequel. After the simultaneous streaming and theatrical release, a sequel finally given the green light at Warner produced decent numbers (although the former did undercut theatrical receipts).

Anyway, after the green light, we are left with one burning question: when will the sequel arrive? We didn’t have to wait long for the answer, as it was revealed about three months ago: Dune 2 is scheduled to arrive in October 2023, so we should start shooting soon if they want to leave enough time for post-production, which can be stretched to the length of the CGI scenes, which are much needed for a sci-fi. Villeneuve was a guest on the Awards Chatter podcast to talk about how work is progressing:

“Right now, I’m in what you call ‘soft prep,’ meaning that we are finishing the screenplay. We’ll start storyboards soon. [Dune] Part 2 is being designed right now by [production designer] Patrice [Vermette]. It’s that beautiful part where it’s just dreaming, looking at the ceiling and thinking about the movie; I love it. I mean, it’s like the moment where everything is possible before we have the shock of reality that will come.”

Let’s hope that Villeneuve gets the free hand and resources he needs to realise his plans so that the cruel reality won’t interfere so much with his vision for Dune 2…