Warner Bros. Unveils Stunning “Dune: Part Two” Trailer at CinemaCon

Warner Bros. has had a very eventful time in Las Vegas at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of theater owners. Their presentation included screening The Flash in its entirety (to delighted, stunned reactions), a glimpse of their upcoming film Wonka, and, the focus of this piece, the first look at Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune: Part Two. 

The new trailer revealed Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides has matured into the Muad’Dib, prophet of the Fremen, the desert-dwelling people he turned to at the end of Dune after his father had been assassinated, and nearly all of House Atreides had been destroyed. Chalamet was on hand at CinemaCon to reveal the trailer, telling the audience that in the first film, “Paul Atreides is a student,” whereas, in Part Two, we see Paul become a leader.

Becoming a leader to the Fremen includes an incredible feat of courage and confidence; the trailer reveals Paul riding one of the colossal sandworms that dominate life on the planet Arrakis. When we last left Paul, he and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), had barely survived the surprise attack issued by the Emperor and carried out by House Harkonnen. Villeneuve and his writing partner, Jon Spaihts, made the masterful decision to break Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 tome into two parts, with part one ending just after Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård)’s attack on House Atreides, which sent Paul and Lady Jessica into Arrakis’s vast desert, where, thanks to help of the Fremen Chani (Zendaya), and Paul’s ability to prove his worth in hand-to-hand combat, the Fremen took them in. 

The new trailer revealed changes, both emotional and physical, to Paul, whose eyes have gone icy blue, the same as the rest of the Fremen due to constant exposure to Spice, the psychoactive substance that has made Arrakis the most valuable and fought over planet in the universe. Zendaya’s Chani will have a much bigger role to play in Part Two, and she was also on hand in Las Vegas, where she said that the relationship between Chani and Paul, despite the galactic context, was still about something very fundamental: “These are still just two young people who are trying to grow up and fall in love and live.”

Returning players from the first Dune include Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck (an ally to Paul and Lady Jessica), Dave Bautista’s Glossu Rabban Harkonnen and Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (major villains), and Javier Bardem’s Stilgar, a leader of the Fremen.

Part Two also boasts new faces, as Villeneuve will introduce all those crucial characters that he left out of Part One, including Léa Seydoux’s Lady Margot, Florence Pugh’s Princess Irulan Corrino, Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and Christopher Walken’s Emperor Shaddam IV. 

Villeneuve shot all of Part Two using IMAX cameras, and he even said he built brand new sets to avoid any repetition from the original film. “We went to all new locations…everything in the film is new,” he added.

Dune: Part Two is set for a November 3, 2023 release.

For more on Dune: Part Two, check out these stories:

Dave Bautista Says “Dune: Part Two” is More Cutthroat & Amped Up

Denis Villeneuve Adds Tim Blake Nelson to “Dune: Part Two”

“Dune: Part Two” Wraps Filming

Léa Seydoux Will Play Lady Margot in “Dune: Part Two”

Featured image: Caption: TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET as Paul Atreides in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures