Dune 2 Director Makes It Very Clear That The New Movie Is 'Not A Sequel'

The spice must keep flowing, and Denis Villeneuve intends to do the same with his highly-anticipated "Dune: Part Two," which will continue the saga of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his reluctant rise to the mantle of messiah. New characters are expected to enter the game, including Florence Pugh's Princess Irulan, who has her own stakes in the events that unravel, and Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha, a ruthless assassin who might end up shouldering the future of House Harkonnen. While "Dune" set the stage for its characters and functioned as an entryway into the complex, futuristic world, "Part Two" will pick up immediately after the ending of the first movie and raise the stakes for everyone involved.

Speaking to Vanity Fair for the film's exclusive first look, Villeneuve clarifies that "Part Two" is the second part in the "Dune" saga and not a sequel, and says that it is crucial to make this distinction:

"It's important — it's not a sequel, it's a second part. There's a difference ... I wanted the movie to really open just where we left the characters. There's no time jump. I wanted dramatic continuity with part one."

While a sequel might end up continuing the themes of a previous story after a time jump, Villeneuve says that "Dune: Part Two" will pick up moments after the ending of the first film, where Chani (Zendaya) looks back at Paul and says, "It's only the beginning." Per Villeneuve, there will be no time jumps (at least, not at the start of the movie), which means that "Part Two" will dive right into the aftermath of the fall of House Atreides, the implications of Paul and his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) adopting the Fremen way, and what the prophecy might mean for Paul, and Arrakis as a whole.

For years, Frank Herbert's dystopian sci-fi novel, "Dune" was considered borderline impossible to adapt. There have been several attempts with varying results — David Lynch's 1984 version was a compelling entry, but not a great adaptation, while Alejandro Jodorowsky's plans to bring "Dune" to life in daring, psychedelic glory failed due to practical reasons. Villeneuve, a passionate fan of Herbert's novels, found a way to adapt the unadaptable: he broke the first novel into two digestible parts to be able to tell a cohesive, better-paced story that was able to do justice to the sprawling, expansive world of "Dune."

This meant ending the first film on a massive cliffhanger, if you will — however, the reasons for the same were not shock value or a tease for a sequel. "Dune" simply concludes a certain arc in Paul's story, and "Part II" picks up at the core of this critical juncture where Paul finds himself in. Everything is about to change: hierarchical structures are about to be crippled, major houses will rally their best defenses to maintain power, and the Bene Gesserit will come out of the shadows to manipulate events in their favor.

As Paul needs to completely devote himself to becoming a Fremen and deeply understand the ecology of Arrakis, "Dune: Part Two" would also mean more sandworms and more desert power, which is always something to look forward to. There's also the very real possibility that Paul's active resistance to his prophesied destiny might end up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy with disastrous (read: world-ending) consequences. However, we will have to climb that sand dune when we get to it.

"Dune: Part Two" will release in theaters on November 3, 2023.