Dune 2 Will Make Zendaya the Protagonist 551p27 Director Denis Villeneuve Reveals

Taking over from Timothée Chalamet who leads Dune: Part One. 2x571j

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 17 August 2021 12:18 IST

Dune 2 Will Make Zendaya the Protagonist, Director Denis Villeneuve Reveals

Photo Credit: Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. 3k5q6

Zendaya as Chani in Dune: Part One

Highlights

Dune: Part One release date is October 22 on HBO Max
Villeneuve has inked a two-movie deal at Warner Bros.
Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson lead Dune cast

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Dune — the adaptation of the sci-fi epic, known onscreen as Dune: Part One — roughly covers the first half of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. As the Dune trailers have shown, the movie follows House Atreides, Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), his concubine Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and their son Paul (Timothée Chalamet), as they take control of a dangerous desert planet called Arrakis, home to the universe's most precious substance: spice. Chalamet's Paul is the protagonist on Dune, but he won't continue in that position on Dune: Part Two, director Denis Villeneuve has revealed. Instead, Zendaya who plays Arrakis native and Paul's love interest Chani, will take over.

“When I did the casting for Chani's character, I met a lot of actresses,” Villeneuve told Dune to get them back together. Knowing that in the next chapter, Zendaya will be the protagonist of the story.”

a day-and-date release on HBO Max, Villeneuve was frustrated because he felt it jeopardised the future of his franchise.

Dune Trailer: Timothée Chalamet Dreams of Zendaya in New Sci-Fi Epic

“Streaming can produce great content, but not movies of Dune's scope and scale,” Villeneuve AT&T's John Stankey said that the streaming horse left the barn. In truth, the horse left the barn for the slaughterhouse. [...] My team and I devoted more than three years of our lives to make it a unique big screen experience. Our movie's image and sound were meticulously designed to be seen in theatres.”

WarnerMedia is still sticking with its HBO Max decision for Dune — that appears more sensible in the past month or so as the Delta variant of COVID-19 has gripped the US. The country reported over 250,000 new coronavirus cases on Monday. Naturally, audiences are now more reluctant to step into closed indoor spaces such as cinemas, and Dune's hybrid release gives them the option to see the film how they feel comfortable. Villeneuve acknowledged the need to put public safety first when he blasted WarnerMedia owner AT&T, but he believed as did everyone then that the world would return to a new normal by October 2021. Alas, that seems unlikely just yet.

Dune is out October 22 in cinemas worldwide, and on HBO Max in the US (for the first month of its release). In India, Dune will release in English and Hindi. It will have its world premiere on September 3 at the 2021 Venice Film Festival.

It's a John Cena double-header this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, as we discuss The Suicide Squad, and later, Fast & Furious 9 (from 28:03). Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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