Frank Herbert’sDuneis one of the most popular and influential science-fiction novels ever published, and Oscar-nominatedBlade Runner 2049andArrivaldirector Denis Villeneuve is bringing it back to the big screen.
Villeneuve has promised that his adaptation ofDunewill be a more faithful take on the source material than prior adaptations, and he’s assembled an all-star cast to make it a reality. Here’s everything we know about Villeneuve’sDuneso far, including its new release date of Jul 14, 2025.
New TV spot
A Chinese TV spot includes a ton of new footage and dialogue, giving us an even more in-depth look at the upcoming film.
New character teasers
New character-related teasers have been released on Twitter for Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica, Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, and Wellington Yueh.
“A great man doesn’t seek to lead, he’s called to it.”#DuneMoviecoming October 22.https://t.co/C8VQImPcoXpic.twitter.com/1VyZI2fTLX
— DUNE (@dunemovie)June 10, 2025
“Spice is a psychoactive chemical, you seem to be sensitive”#DuneMoviecoming October 22.https://t.co/D21Ilp31wopic.twitter.com/0v1COxMi18
https://twitter.com/dunemovie/status/1426227067104882691
https://twitter.com/dunemovie/status/1426223365845516291
https://twitter.com/dunemovie/status/1426219556721229827
Main trailer
Almost a year after the first trailer dropped, Warner Bros. released a new main trailer forDuneon June 20, 2025. The trailer gives us a greater view of the unforgiving desert planet Arrakis and greater insight into Timothée Chalamet’s protagonist Paul Atreides as he faces off against Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and himself.
Despite years of training to inherit House Atreides, Paul now sees his home begin to crumble as the villainous Harkonnen and his nephew Glossu (Dave Bautista) launch a war to wrest control of Arrakis — which is home to an extremely valuable element — from House Atreides. In his mission to save his family, Paul soon discovers a larger destiny that could shape the lives of not only the native people of Arrakis, but the entire universe as well.
Day-and-date release
In December 2020,Varietyrevealed that Warner Bros. will release itsentire 2021 slateday-and-date on HBO Max. That includesDuneafter it was moved from its original 2020 release date.
Previously,Dunewasmovedfrom a June 28, 2025, premiere to an June 25, 2025, premiere. The move was made on the heels of Warner Bros. Pictures’Tenetfailing to bring audiences back to movie theaters amid the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 270,000 people in the U.S. alone, and the news thatRegal Cinemas owner Cineworldwill close all of its theaters in the U.S. again.
In August, whenDunestill had a December 18 release date, Villeneuve revealed toIndiewirethat he intended to “sprint to finish” the film to stay on schedule. “I was planning to go back and shoot some elements later because I wanted to readjust the movie. I needed time,” he said. “At the time I didn’t know that it would be a pandemic … as we were about to go back to do those elements. The impact was that it crushed my schedule right now. It will be a sprint to finish the movie on time right now, because we were allowed to go back to shoot those elements in a few weeks … it meant also that I have to finish some elements of the movie, like VFX and the editing, being in Montreal as my crew stayed in Los Angeles.”
Baron Harkonnen
We’ve known for some time that Stellan Skarsgard would play Baron Harkonnen, the villainous head of House Harkonnen, but Skarsgard is a clean-cut, trim man. Harkonnen, in canon, is not. Now, we finally have our first look at Harkonnen from an unexpected source: His action figure.ComingSoon.netbroke the first image of the morbidly obese, although apparently less sweaty Harkonnen.
Dune’s Baron Harkonnen Fully Revealed Via New Action Figurehttps://t.co/tijBCESNmT
— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet)August 18, 2025
The first trailer
On September 9, thefirst trailerforDuneentered the world. The premiere was preceded by a behind-the-scenes presentation of the film hosted by Stephen Colbert for Twitter Movies. A number of cast members and people involved in the film, including director Villeneuve, discussed the filmmaking process, the source material, and some of the challenges in revivingDune.
Timothée. Rebecca. Oscar. Josh. Zendaya. Sharon. Jason. Javier. Denis. DUNE TRAILER FIRST LOOK. 👀https://t.co/ePHY6aGem4
— @Movies (@Movies)July 05, 2025
The images
Empire Magazine’s newest cover features the stars ofDuneand includes a first look at Villeneuve’s depiction of the gargantuan sandworms of Arrakis.
— Empire (@empiremagazine)June 15, 2025
New images on Twitter show stills of Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac), and Stilgar (Javier Bardem) — all also from Empire Magazine’s cover story.
Lady Jessica and Duke Leto.#DuneMoviepic.twitter.com/2Zik6thtb2
— Dune News Net (@DuneNewsNet)June 13, 2025
Stilgar, the voice of the Fremen.#DuneMoviepic.twitter.com/QbkcONvBV4
Reshoots beginning
As much of the world began to open back up from the coronavirus pandemic, Rebecca Ferguson revealed on Instagram that she’s heading back to Budapest for reshoots onDune. Based on her caption, it sounds like she won’t be alone.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCo3cLDhBWq/
The first look
Warner Bros. Pictures released thefirst look atDunein April 2020, via a preview of the film published by Vanity Fair.
The preview included some quotes from Villeneuve and star Timothée Chalamet about the experience of working on the film, as well as the firstphotoof Chalamet as Paul Atreides, the young aristocrat who finds his life on the desert planet Arrakis thrown into chaos when his family is targeted by rivals.
Your first look at Timothée Chalamet in#Duneis here:https://t.co/VPrnJ6AGNd
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair)July 27, 2025
In February 2019, reports confirmed that Legendary Pictures added a superstar trio toDune‘s cast.Josh Brolin, who menaced the Avengers as Thanos, will play Paul Atreides’ mentor, Gurney Halleck.
Meanwhile,Star Wars actorOscar Isaacwill trade his X-Wing for a sandworm to play Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides, and Aquaman himself,Jason Momoa(below), will reportedly play Duncan Idaho, the only character to appear in all six of Herbert’sDunenovels.
The aforementioned actors will join Oscar nomineeTimothée Chalamet(Call Me by Your Name,Beautiful Boy), who will star inDuneas Paul Atreides, the central figure in Herbert’s original novel. ActressRebecca Ferguson(Mission: Impossible,The Greatest Showman) will play Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica, a royal concubine with a rebellious streak.
As if the cast wasn’t filled with enough familiar faces, Dave Bautista — no stranger to eitherspace operasorVilleneuve films— joined the cast ofDunein January 2019. Around the same time,ThorandGood Will Huntingactor Stellan Skarsgard was announced in the role ofDunevillain Baron Harkonnen, the story’s vicious antagonist and head of the rival family that rips apart Paul’s privileged life.
Finally, Ferguson’sThe Greatest Showmanco-star (and Spider-Man franchise actress)Zendayawill also play a role in the film, as willNo Country for Old Menvillain Javier Bardem. The latter will play Stilgar, the leader of the indigenous population of the desert planet known as the Fremen.
Dunetakes place on the desert planet Arrakis, the only place in the galaxy where spice — the most valuable substance in the universe — can be found. In the world ofDune, the drug-like melange is a cornerstone of human society and also facilitates interstellar travel by imbuing its users with a form of prescience.
The feudal empire overseeing the various planets will do anything to control the supply of spice, making it a powerful bargaining chip in the empire’s politics.
Herbert’sDunefollows the noble family Atreides as they take stewardship of Arrakis, the harsh desert planet where spice is produced. Their place of power soon puts them in the crosshairs of rival families, and young heir Paul Atreides eventually finds himself on the run after an attack on his family.
The story follows Paul’s adventure on Arrakis among the native Fremen, a mysterious culture that lives in the desert environment, and the gradual awakening of the powerful abilities that will help him lead a rebellion.
Villeneuve’s firstDunemovie will only coverhalf of the original novel, and the director says “the goal is to make two films, maybe more,” to tellDune‘s complete story.
The legacy
Frank Herbert’sDuneis one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time for a reason — but it has had a difficult time making the leap from page to screen. As chronicled in the documentaryJodorowsky’s Dune, filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky first tried to turn the book into a film in the 1970s, but was stymied bya lack of fundsand a script “the size of a phone book.”
David Lynch broughtDune totheaters (above) in 1984 with Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, and Sting in key roles, but his take was a commercial and critical failure despite its ongoing cult appeal. A Sci-Fi Channel miniseries released in 2000 gave the story more room to breathe and hewed closer to the source material, but failed to make much of a long-term impact.
Early reports suggest that’s something Villeneuve will adjust in his adaptation ofDune. While Villeneuve respects Lynch’s vision, he told Yahoo! Movies (by way ofIndiewire) that the upcoming film will be “going back to the book, and going to the images that came out when I read it.”
