The New 'Dune' Trailer Teases Power Struggles, a Brooding Timothée Chalamet and Oh-So-Much Sand

Delayed for a year due to the pandemic, the blockbuster sci-fi movie will finally hit cinemas this October.
Sarah Ward
July 23, 2021

In 2021, déjà vu and heading to the movies keep going hand in hand. Many of the big-name big-screen releases showing in cinemas this year were due to release last year, which means we've been hearing about them for a while — so, if you feel like first saw the trailer for sci-fi epic Dune quite some time ago, for instance, there's a very good reason for that.

More than ten months after that first glimpse dropped, another trailer has just arrived. Unsurprisingly, it's sandy. And, once again, it teases a movie that's set to combine a beloved science fiction title, a star-studded cast and a Hans Zimmer score. Pairing up all three worked rather spectacularly in Blade Runner 2049, and now filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is hoping that it'll just turn out just as swimmingly with his Timothée Chalamet-, Oscar Isaac- and Zendaya-led version of Dune.

In the latest adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, Chalamet (Little Women) plays Paul Atreides — son of Duke Leto Atreides (Isaac, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), who has just been given stewardship of the planet Arrakis. In this futuristic tale, Arrakis is the source of 'the spice', the most valuable substance in the universe. It's also home to a population of people known as the Fremen, as well as to giant sandworms, and it's known for being dangerous partly due to the latter. And, once Paul, Leto and Paul's mother Lady Jessica (Doctor Sleep's Rebecca Ferguson) move to the planet, it's the subject of a bitter battle with malicious forces over the spice trade.

If all of the above sounds more than a bit familiar, that's because David Lynch brought Dune to the screen back in 1984, with his Kyle MacLachlan-starring movie becoming one one of the most unfairly maligned sci-fi films ever made. Fellow director Alejandro Jodorowsky also tried to make his own version — a feat that wasn't successful, sadly, but was explored in the excellent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune.

Just how Villeneuve's take will fare is still yet to be seen, obviously, with the film initially due to hit cinemas Down Under on Boxing Day 2020, but now slated to release on October 21, 2021. But the French Canadian director has an impressive resume — see: Arrival, Sicario, Enemy, Prisoners and Incendies, just to name a few titles on his resume — and with Dune, he's clearly reaching for epic territory.

Like the first trailer, the latest glimpse at the film makes that case quite heartily. As well as serving up plenty of Call Me By Your Name's Chalamet as the film's brooding hero, the sneak peek features sandy expanses aplenty, weighty chats with Isaac, and many a confrontation. And, a stellar cast that also includes Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), Stellan Skarsgård (Chernobyl), Dave Bautista (Army of the Dead), Charlotte Rampling (Red Sparrow), Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Javier Bardem (Everybody Knows), all getting caught up in a spice war.

Check out the latest trailer below:

Dune will release in Australian cinemas on October 21, 2021.

Top image: Chiabella James. Copyright: © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Published on July 23, 2021 by Sarah Ward
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