The final trailer for Dune Part 2 has emerged from beneath the sand dunes of Arrakis – and, in news that'll surprise no one, it looks absolutely epic.
One of 2024's most anticipated new movies, the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel looks set to be the first blockbuster film of next year. That's based on its new near-three-minute long teaser, which is as spectacular and dramatic as you'd expect.
There's a lot packed into Dune Part 2's third teaser, too. For starters, we're treated to our best looks yet at new villains in Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen – how menacing does he look, by the way? – and Christopher Walken's Emperor Shaddam IV, who'll be front and center of Dune's sequel alongside returning faces like Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides and Zendaya's Chani. Other new characters, including Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan, are shown at various points in the trailer, too.
If you're wanting more bang for your buck from Villeneue's next sci-fi flick, you're also in luck. Dune Part 2 looks like it'll be even more action-packed than its predecessor, with numerous large-scale battles set to dominate its runtime. Indeed, we see all-out war erupting between The Fremen – lead by Paul, Chani, and Javier Bardem's Stilgar – and House Harkonnen, with the former charging into one particularly big-budget fight on three (!) sand worms. I don't know about you, but that's going to make for a suitably epic sequence to watch on the biggest screen possible.
There'll be plenty of *ahem* spicy drama laced throughout as well. There's the growing romantic bond between Paul and Chani to be captivated by; Paul's increasingly superpowered skillset, including his ability to use The Voice and see into the future; and even some story-based teases that suggest a third Dune movie could be on the way. Speaking during a South Korean press conference for Dune Part 2 on December 8, Villeneuve revealed that a screenplay for Dune Part 3 – set to be based on Dune: Messiah – is "almost finished", so a third installment is all but confirmed at this point.
The visuals of ‘DUNE: PART TWO’ pic.twitter.com/jNUfsSfZBpDecember 12, 2023
We shouldn't be surprised that Dune 3 is on the cards. Dune was positively received by fans and critics alike – in our Dune review, we called it "an absorbing and visually striking sci-fi epic with one major problem" – upon its October 2021 release, with the movie going on to make over $400 million at the Covid-19 impacted box office. At the time, it received a simultaneous theatrical and streaming launch, with Dune landing on Max (formerly HBO Max), which drew criticism from Villeneuve in the months post-release, as the 'day and date' release affected ticket sales. Despite Villeneuve's frustrations, Dune performed well enough for Warner Bros. Pictures to greenlight a sequel in October 2021.
Dune 2 began filming in July 2022 and wrapped five months later. Dune Part 2's first trailer was released online in May 2023 ahead of its at-the-time November 3 release date, but Dune 2 was then delayed until March 15, 2024 due to the Hollywood actors strike.
With that bout of industrial action ending in mid-November – ironically six days after Dune Part 2's original launch date – the movie's release was bumped up two weeks to March 1, 2024. Pleasingly, then, we don't have much longer to wait to return to the staggeringly complex world that Dune author Frank Herbert originally created in the 1960s.
Dune is currently available to stream on Max and Netflix in the US, Prime Video in the UK, and Foxtel in Australia.
