After Dune’s impressive $41 million domestic opening weekend, Legendary has officially announced that Dune: Part Two is moving forward with a release in October 2023 from Warner Bros. as the sci-fi epic has already earned $223.2 million globally.
Denis Villeneuve had previously said a fall production start next year was “realistic.”
We already know that Dune: Part Two has been in development for the better part of two years with Villeneuve co-writing the script with Jon Spaihts, the latter exiting the HBO Max series Dune: The Sisterhood to focus on the sequel. A clear sign the project was a priority for Legendary.
While they could stop at two movies, Villeneuve has considered the idea of pushing towards a trilogy by using Dune Messiah as the basis of the third movie.
“There is Dune’s second book, The Messiah of Dune, which could make an extraordinary film. I always saw that there could be a trilogy; after that, we’ll see. It’s years of work; I can’t think of going further than that.”
The second installment would allow for more casting additions with roles such as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Paul’s young sister Alia Atreides, Princess Irulan, Shaddam IV The Padishah Emperor, and others. Since those characters are being saved and allowed for Dune to give newbies a crash course on the franchise’s deep mythology.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if we see a bit of a time jump between the two movies.
THE RONIN 