Why We'll Likely Never See The Deleted Scenes From Denis Villeneuve's Dune

Though it has its defenders in 2024, David Lynch's "Dune" remains a divisive entry in the director's canon. While some argue that "Dune" is better than its reputation suggests, there are still many, many things wrong with "Dune" 1984 — things which led to a poor critical and commercial reception for Lynch's adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel. Since that inauspicious debut, Herbert's epic story maintained a reputation for being "unfilmable," due to its sheer scale and detailed lore. Then, Denis Villeneuve came along.

Back in 2018, the French-Canadian filmmaker announced he was planning a "Dune" adaptation spread across two films, the first of which arrived in 2021 at the height of the global pandemic. For some, the first installment in Villeneuve's adaptation flowed with the spirit of Frank Herbert. The director had finally given the source material its due by spreading the epic tale across two films, allowing for all the minutiae of Herbert's original story to remain largely preserved. For others, however, the pace with which Villeneuve ran through each moment — loyal to the book though these moments were — proved that a faithful adaptation doesn't always make a great movie. Still, at two hours and 35 minutes, 2021's "Dune" couldn't really be attacked on the grounds of its brevity.

Now, the bleak blockbuster that is "Dune: Part Two," has arrived with an even longer runtime of two hours and 46 minutes. With more than five hours at his disposal, you'd expect Villeneuve to pack pretty much everything he wanted into his two-part sci-fi epic. Sadly, it seems the director was not only forced to make some harsh cuts, but is intent upon never showing those deleted scenes to anyone.

Much like Paul Atreides himself, "Dune: Part Two" is managing to conquer the box office since it launched its onslaught on March 1, 2024. This time, Denis Villeneuve has strayed from Frank Herbert's original 1965 novel slightly, with one significant "Dune: Part Two" death in particular changing from the book. Still, the critical response thus far has been largely positive, suggesting the director has once again proved the "unfilmable" advocates wrong.

Unfortunately, it seems bringing this latest installment to the screen was, much like the first, a painful process for Villeneuve. As the filmmaker explained to Collider, he was forced to make "painful" cuts to both "Dune" and its sequel, and it seems the likelihood of those outtakes ever seeing the light of day is basically non-existent. Asked about whether the deleted scenes will ever make it to a Blu-ray special features section, the director said:

"I'm a strong believer that when it's not in the movie, it's dead. I kill darlings, and it's painful for me. Sometimes I remove shots and I say, 'I cannot believe I'm cutting this out.' I feel like a samurai opening my gut. It's painful, so I cannot go back after that and create a Frankenstein and try to reanimate things that I killed. It's too painful. When it's dead, it's dead, and it's dead for a reason."

So, that's a "no," then.

Alongside the "Dune 2" release, we're learning a lot about Denis Villeneuve's filmmaking principles. Aside from being ruthless when it comes to making cuts to his films, he also spoke about his distaste for, well, having his actors speak. Villeneuve revealed that he "hates" dialogue in movies, and even teased a potential version of "Dune: Messiah" (the second of Frank Herbert's "Dune" novels) wherein none of the actors would have any lines — though that's far from a sure thing at this point.

The celebrated director has provided us with some truly outstanding cinematic efforts throughout his career, so perhaps these two principles are the key to churning out quality films. But it seems the overarching rule that informs all these guidelines is fealty to the movie being made. In his Collider interview, Villeneuve explained how his ruthless cuts are motivated by a desire to make the best film he can, saying, "It is a painful project, but it is my job. The movie prevails. I'm very, I think, severe in the editing room. I'm not thinking about my ego, I'm thinking about the movie."

While that's surely a great approach to have, and Villeneuve's oeuvre speaks to its effectiveness, I'm pretty sure fans are still going to want to see those "Dune" deleted scenes.