Dune: Part Two Is A Love Story And A War Movie, According To Denis Villeneuve

Between "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning," and "Fast X," 2023 might feel like the year of blockbusters blatantly split in half, but one major film beat them all to the punch a few years earlier: 2021's "Dune." Director Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi/fantasy novel made the conscious choice to only cover the first half of the original book (unlike, say, David Lynch's 1984 film that tried to stuff everything into a single, 2-hour theatrical cut), leaving much of the remaining action for the sequel to worry about. Well, even though "Dune: Part 2" recently ended up delayed by several months well into 2024, we're still finding out more information about the sequel in drips and drabs.

In an awkward example of pre-planned marketing arriving with some exceedingly poor timing, Empire just dropped their shiny new magazine covers commemorating the now later-than-expected release of "Dune: Part 2." In a new interview excerpt, the outlet spoke to Villeneuve about what to expect from the sequel. (It's worth noting that, as a result of the Director's Guild coming to terms on a new contract months ago, he's allowed to promote his films even as the writers and actors continue to strike to receive their own fair contracts.) In somewhat of an acknowledgment that the first "Dune" didn't exactly tell a complete and self-contained story, the director teased the sequel, "'Part One' was like the promise of something, but 'Part Two' delivers on that."

How exactly will he accomplish that feat this time around? Well, fans of the book already have a leg up on what to expect. But for everyone else, Villeneuve attempts to set the record straight on the anticipated tone and feel of the sequel. In short, it's all about love and war, baby.

As much as "Dune" received rapturous acclaim from practically all corners, there were still a few stick-in-the-muds (raises hand) who simply couldn't get very emotionally involved in the actual story of Paul (Timothée Chalamet) arriving on the desert world of Arrakis along, suffering through the fall of House Atreides at the hands of the Harkonnens, and joining up with Zendaya's Chani and the rest of the Indigenous Fremen people. The lack of any real screen time devoted to Paul and Chani certainly didn't help, but audiences can look forward to that changing in a major way this time around. Denis Villeneuve goes on to explain the major shift in perspective that "Part 2" will depict:

"The first movie was more contemplative — a young man discovering a world. Here, it's a war movie."

He added:

"At the very core is a love story between Paul and Chani. How Paul will gain her trust, how she will open her heart to him, and how they will find a way to free Chani's world from the Harkonnen grip. It's a much more emotional movie."

The official trailer definitely went out of its way to put Paul and Chani's growing romance at the forefront of the action, even as we were treated to much more expansive sequences of spectacle — all with the foreboding future of Paul's prophetic destiny hanging heavy over their heads. That's something Paul remains well aware of even as he seeks to avenge his fallen father, the Duke (Oscar Isaac). According to Villeneuve, "He's trying to find a way to avoid that ominous future — that's the burden upon his shoulders."

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait to see how that goes. Everything will be perfectly fine, I'm sure! "Dune: Part 2" arrives March 14, 2024.