Everything You Need to Know Before Seeing “Dune: Part Two”
Warner Bros. has released a new video that will help those of you with a few burning questions ahead of the Dune: Part Two premiere to go into the film feeling properly educated. It might also even entice those Dune holdouts into seeing the first film so they can enjoy director Denis Villeneuve’s critically acclaimed two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 novel.
If there were one major Cliff’s Notes version of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, it would be that, at its core, it’s a story about warring families. On one side, you’ve got House Atreides, which were led by Duke (Oscar Isaac) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) in the first film, with their promising son Paul (Timothée Chalamet) showing skills derived from both his parents. Yet when House Atreides was asked by Emperor Shaddam IV (played in Part Two by Christopher Walken, unseen in the first film) to go to the desert planet of Arrakis to help take over the massive manufacturing hub of the planet’s natural resource, Spice, trouble was in the air. Enter the bad family, House Harkonnen, led by Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), who attacked the Atreides in the first film, killing Duke and sending Paul and Lady Jessica on the run in the desert.
The desert of Arrakis is home to a powerful band of people known as the Fremen, led by Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and including Chani (Zendaya), the young woman Paul kept seeing in his dreams. In Part Two, Paul and Lady Jessica will be deeply embedded within Fremen society as Paul plots his revenge against the Harkonnen, his rage and his growing belief that he’s the chosen one sure to have galactic implications. Chani will have a much larger role to play as Paul’s determination to defeat his enemies and lead the Fremen to control their planet will become dangerous itself. Part Two will introduce a slew of characters who were all crucial in Herbert’s original book, including Walken as the aforementioned Emperor Shaddam IV, Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Paul’s direct challenger, Florence Pugh as Princess Irrulan Corrino, and Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot.
The fight between Paul Atreides and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen is one of the most thrilling moments in Frank Herbert’s original book, a ferocious clash with galactic implications. When we spoke to Dune: Part One and Two co-writer Jon Spaihts about the first film, he explained that he and Villeneuve had left much of the most thrilling action from Herbert’s 1965 novel for the second installment, choosing to focus Part One on the treachery and galactic scheming that led the galaxy to the brink of all-out war. Part Two, however, will feature many of the major set pieces from Herbert’s book and the war that’s been brewing.
For a proper catch-up via video, check out the below. Dune: Part Two opens in theaters on March 1:
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New “Dune: Part Two” Images Unleash Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Featured image: Caption: (L-r) TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET as Paul Atreides and JOSH BROLIN as Gurney Halleck in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE: PART TWO,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise
