‘Dune’ Director Denis Villeneuve Says He’ll Be Ready To Shoot The Sequel ‘Quickly’ If It Gets Greenlit

There are much longer novels than Frank Herbert’s Dune, but it’s still a bit of a hike. And it’s dense — so dense that the filmmakers decided to divide it into two movies, the first one covering only the first half-and-change. Thing is, they didn’t film both parts back-to-back. Part 2 (which will reportedly feature even more Zendaya) is contingent on it being a success. But when/if it’s greenlit, its director, Denis Villeneuve, swears it won’t take that long for him to get back in action.

In a recent interview (as reported by IGN), Villeneuve — whose credits include Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049 — assured journalist that, should everything go as planned, he’d get Part 2 going “as soon as possible,” considering he’d have to resume work on a super-expensive blockbuster that requires reconvening a massive all-star cast.

“I would be very ready to go quite quickly,” he said. “To go quickly in a movie of that size, you still need to make sets, costumes, so we are talking about months. But if ever there’s enthusiasm and the movie is greenlit sooner than later, I will say that I will be ready to shoot in 2022 for sure.

“I am ready to go, and I will say that I would love to bring it to the screen as soon as possible,” he added. “The first film, I really had time to make sure that it was exactly the way I wanted it to be. I would love to have the same feeling when I make the second part. That would be the priority. Quality will be the priority.”

Villeneuve also described Part 1, which hits theaters and HBO Max on October 22, as an “appetizer” for Part 2, which he swears will be crazier than the first. He described the first film as him laying out Herbert’s incredibly complex world. “Once this is done, it becomes an insane playground. It will allow me to go berserk.”

Reviews for Dune have already come in, and they are truly all over the map, with critics everywhere from bored to mesmerized. Herbert’s series have yielded mixed results in the past. David Lynch’s career was briefly destroyed after he made his pricey version in 1984; it’s since turned into a cult item, beloved for slipping freaky, sometimes disturbing imagery into a mainstream blockbuster. Aughts-era miniseries, which covered the first three novels, fared better, though they also lack Sting.