"Dune: Part Two" hits theaters on November 3, 2023. With a few months to go before its release,
fans have gotten a second trailer to parse for hints as to how the
film will adapt the beloved sci-fi classic. There's plenty to chew on.
"Dune: Part One" was dense with lore and came out almost two full years ago. With that in mind,
if you have a fuzzy recollection of what happened, let us bring you back up to speed,
since we'll be taking a deep dive into the second trailer for "Part Two."
"It's not a prophecy. It's a story."
The Atreides family is a royal house with a vast galactic dominion. As a result of their
outstanding reputation, and a political move by the emperor, they're given the desert planet
of Arrakis, which they can mine for one of the most valuable resources in the universe: Spice.
But not all is as it seems. House Harkonnen,
which previously oversaw Arrakis, launches a devastating surprise attack that kills thousands,
including Duke Leto Atreides. This leaves young Paul Atreides and his mother, Lady Jessica,
as seemingly the only survivors of the royal family. They must learn how to
survive the harsh deserts of Arrakis if they hope to regain what they've lost.
Still, things are not as dark as they may seem. Paul appears to be the figure at the
heart of two different legends. The first is a calculated plan that the Bene Gesserit
have been overseeing for centuries, and the second is a prophecy that the tribal Fremen,
who Paul is growing to lead, believe with regard to the young ruler, who they call Muad'Dib.
Now, with both prophecies seemingly coming true,
Paul becomes a messianic figure. With his new powers, which include foresight into the future,
he dreads that he may leave the universe worse off than he found it.
"I see a holy war spreading across the universe like an unquenchable
fire. A warrior religion that waves the Atreides banner in my father's name!"
The biggest draw of the second "Dune: Part Two" trailer is the reveal of Emperor Shaddam IV,
brought to life by the legendary Christopher Walken. While mentioned in the previous film,
the trailer gives us our first look at Paul's galaxy-ruling adversary,
who will play a key role in the sequel.
The Padishah emperor is the man that set the events of "Dune" in motion.
Ruling over all of the Known Universe, he fears anything and anyone that threatens
his power. Unfortunately for House Atreides, Duke Leto was one such threat. Leto's growing
popularity led Shaddam to grant him control over Arrakis, using the desert planet's wealth
to disguise his attack on House Atreides. Leto understands that Arrakis is a trap…
"When we get to Arrakis, we'll face enormous danger."
…but he ultimately fails to defend his house from the combined forces of Shaddam's Sardaukar
and House Harkonnen, leading to his death and to Paul and Lady Jessica's exile into the desert.
In "Dune: Part Two," Shaddam's secret plot against House Atreides will come to a head
as he learns of Paul and Jessica's survival and subsequent rebellion with the Fremen,
eventually arriving on Arrakis to confront them himself.
In "Dune: Part Two," Paul will be leading the Fremen and, as a result,
the young warrior will see that the Harkonnens finally face consequences
for their disreputable treatment of both House Atreides and the natives of Arrakis.
Fortunately for Paul and the Fremen,
House Harkonnen and the Emperor greatly underestimate their threat. Not only do
the Fremen have a better understanding of desert warfare than their royal hosts,
but they also have better battle stamina and the ability to ride the massive sandworms of Arrakis.
The Fremen also engage in plenty of more traditional guerilla warfare, as Paul, Chani,
and others are seen launching fiery retaliatory strikes on the duplicitous Harkonnens. Chani will
clearly play a big role in the fighting. Plus, her and Stilgar's knowledge of Arrakis' history and
the ways of the desert are key to Paul's struggle to take back his rightful place in the galaxy.
"Dune: Part Two" clearly features much more Zendaya as Chani after
her lack of screen time in the original disappointed some fans. Her role looks
to be even bigger than in author Frank Herbert's original novel.
Director Denis Villeneuve wasn't lying when he said he wanted to make
Chani the protagonist of "Part Two." In the trailer, she and Paul are in the spotlight,
as their growing relationship will be the driving force behind the sequel. Unlike in the book,
Chani will do more than just sit around and wait for Paul to come
home. We see her participating — and maybe even leading — the Fremen rebellion against
the Harkonnens. She decisively takes out a member of the Emperor's Sardaukar.
In the book, Chani's already a great fighter, but after training with Paul and Lady Jessica,
she becomes a deadly warrior. It looks like she's already there in "Dune: Part Two."
Although Chani states she's fighting for her people,
not Paul, their growing relationship will muddy those waters. Other developments,
including Paul accepting his role as Muad'Dib, put their relationship to the test, which "Dune:
Part Two" will likely showcase, putting the spotlight on Zendaya's performance as Chani.
It is a very good time to be Dave Bautista. The former WWE superstar is carving out a very
impressive career in Hollywood, and his A-list status has led to several collaborations with
top directors, including Denis Villeneuve. Bautista first worked with Villeneuve on
"Blade Runner 2049," and the pair reconnected for "Dune: Part One," with Bautista claiming the role
of the sadistic Glossu Rabban Harkonnen. He's reprising that role for the sequel.
If the film's new trailer is any indication, the character may take
a bigger part in the action than he did even in Herbert's source material. Glossu,
also known as "The Beast," was hardly a minor player in Herbert's legendary novel,
but he was largely sidelined after leading Harkonnen forces in their attempt to destroy
the whole of House Atreides. Part of his second-act arc, however, is to seek out and
kill the desert-dwelling Fremen. And if there's room to expand The Beast's journey in "Dune:
Part 2," it may be in his mission to cleanse the desert of Harkonnen enemies.
Of course, given Bautista's fame, his increased presence in the trailer may
just be a marketing move to build hype. But it could mean Villeneuve wanted to beef up
the role to make use of Bautista's seemingly boundless talent. If anyone can help make a
more three-dimensional character of The Beast, Bautista is the actor to do it.
Paul Atreides' place as the promised figure of two separate prophecies
isn't necessarily the ray of desert sunshine that it appears to be. The
further Paul looks into the future with his powers, the worse things seem to get.
"All my visions lead to horror."
This is heavily reflected in the second trailer for "Dune:
Part Two." Gurney Halleck thinks Paul is afraid of losing control, but the young
Atreides heir points out that he will instead gain power, a power so absolute that it will
lead to the deaths of millions of people across the galaxy, no matter how he tries to wield it.
These elements are some of the most fascinating parts of Frank Herbert's
"Dune" novel. This is a story about leading during difficult times and
trying to pick the least bad of many increasingly awful outcomes.
"Dune" reflects the terrible consequences that follow any uprising based on religious belief,
recalling many real-life "holy wars," such as The Crusades. So though this might seem
like a small part of the trailer, it's a massive part of the lore of the series.
A rapid series of shots in the trailer goes from an extreme close-up of a finger touching a blue
liquid to Paul's mother Lady Jessica gasping as her eyes glow blue before landing on an elderly,
glossy-eyed woman who appears to be in some sort of trance. While this sequence lacks the
context to mean anything to fans who have only seen Villeneuve's first "Dune" movie,
those familiar with its source material — or even
David Lynch's 1984 adaptation — will recognize this as a major story beat.
That blue liquid is called the Water of Life. While normally a poison, through a ritual called
spice agony, a Bene Gesserit like Jessica can attain the powers of a Reverend Mother,
a title granted to spiritual leaders who have access to their ancestors' memories embedded
in their genetic code. The woman in the third shot is the Fremen's current Reverend Mother.
Jessica's involvement in the spice agony ritual means big changes are coming to
the Fremen social order. This key scene's inclusion in the film likewise means that
Paul's place in the Fremen tribe, as well as Chani's role as the member of
the tribe closest to Paul, are going to become increasingly complicated.
Throughout the trailer, various characters refer
to Paul as a messiah. As the conclusion of the previous "Dune" film makes clear,
Paul will have an extremely important role to play in the Fremen tribe despite his outsider status.
"The prophet. Why is that a bad thing? Use it!"
At one point in the trailer, Paul rides one of planet Arrakis' gargantuan sandworms. Lady Jessica
asks Fremen leader Stilgar if he believes in Paul. Stilgar claims Paul is showing signs — presumably
of being the Fremen messiah — as another shot of Paul atop a sandworm is shown on screen.
In the "Dune" universe, riding sandworms is exclusively a Fremen practice, and typically
something members of the tribe start doing at a younger age than Paul. Nevertheless,
he learns to ride a sandworm despite his advanced age and unique background,
emphasizing that he's right for the role of Muad'Dib.
Following this footage of Paul riding the sandworm, Stilgar watches in awe,
suggesting that Paul's worm-riding competency is one additional sign of his importance to the
Fremen. A little earlier in the trailer, Chani is about to translate the Fremen language for
Paul before he stops her, having fully understood what was said to him. This drives home how rapidly
he's learning Fremen culture. As a sandworm rider, then, Paul is capable of one of the
hardest and most significant feats necessary for his acceptance into the Fremen of Arrakis.