It is the legend- at long last, we faithful were treated to the first official trailer for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ upcoming “Dune.” Directed by Denis Villenueve, this new telling of Frank Herbert‘s seminal science fiction work aims to break the first novel into two parts, resulting in two films.
If you missed the trailer release this morning, you can watch it (and the cast chat) in our previous “Dune” coverage here.
Let’s talk about some thoughts we had about the absolutely stunning visuals we were treated to in the first trailer.
“Dune” First Trailer Gallery:
Paul’s first dream vision of Chani 
Paul and Jessica looking at the Harkonnen, Sardukar sacking of Arakeen, capitol of Arrakis. 
Paul must take the Gom Jabbar test. 
“WHATS IN THE BOX!?” 
The needle 
Reverend Mother Helen Mohiam 
“THE PAIN!” 
Guild Hieghliners above the Atreides home planet of Caladan. 
Paul does training with Gurney, and we loved this detail of House Atreides’ sigil on the blade. Also- how cool is this personal shield?! 
Paul’s personal shield is activated for training. 
Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, training Paul. 
The slow blade penetrates the shield. 
Duke Leto honoring his father, seen here killing a bull. 
Duke Leto possibly saying his goodbyes to Caladan. 
Beautiful rendition of the capitol of Caladan, Cala City. 
Jessica oversees the moving preparations in the Atredies home. 
The Lady Jessica in Bene Gesserit finery arriving on Arrakis. 
The Guild Heighliners arrive on Arrakis. 
Paul, flanked by family mentat (and Master of Assassins) Thufir Hawat with the parasol. 
Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho seeing Paul on Arrakis for the first time. 
Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Fremen leader. 
Harkonnen troops (possibly Sardukar too?) assembling on Giedi Prime 
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen addressing the troops 
Dave Bautista as Beast Raban 
Our first look at Stellan Sarsgård as Baron Harkonnen 
Chang Chen, as Dr. Yueh 
We don’t really like that these Sardukar are floating, but it makes for a cool visual. 
Paul’s first time in the stillsuit. 
“We’ll fight like demons.” 
Doesn’t it look like his face mask was supposed to be the suit’s codpiece? 
At first we were like OMG ITS A STAGE 3 GUILD NAVIGATOR but… 
It’s just ships. 
A ‘thopter in flight as Arakeen burns 
The Baron in an oil bath. 
Duncan giving a salute 
ok but. 
Liet-Kynes and omg IS THAT A SUSPENSOR LAMP NEXT TO HER 
Paul fights Jamis. 
WORM SIGN 
Costume Design:
One of our biggest complaints is with the design of the stillsuits. We’ve talked about it before, when the first official photos of characters Stilgar, Paul, and Chani were released. The use of Oakley gloves, easily found on Amazon, with an extra set of knuckles on the wrist is just…weird.
And the stillsuits themselves look poorly fitted to the actors. In some scenes, Paul’s suit’s crotch is incredibly low, while other times it looks like it’s too tight. The fact that the codpiece on the suit looks like a belt buckle that no one could figure out where it goes? The face masks look WAY more like a codpiece than a mask.
Short cuts featuring The Lady Jessica and the Reverend Mother still don’t really give us a good enough look at the women’s Bene Gesserit costumes, but we’re liking what we see so far with the beading.
We do like that we haven’t seen the Baron in his full massive self yet, and that there aren’t any crysknives being shown in this trailer.
World Building:
We certainly feel filming in Wadi Rum in Jordan was totally the right choice for Arrakis, and still find it amusing that Oscar Isaac had already been in that exact area to film “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
During the pre-trailer release chatter segment hosted by Stephen Colbert, Chalamet said he only had two scenes that were greenscreen background.
Missing Characters:
We know that David Dastmalchian is playing Piter deVrys, Harkonnen mentat, and yet he’s not in the trailer.
There is not, at this time, known casting for the Padashaw Emperor Shaddam IV, his daughter Princess Irulan, Fremen housekeeper The Shaddow Mapes, Feyd Harkonnen or St. Alia of the Knife. At present, we’re really expecting Feyd and Alia to show up in the second film, as Villenueve has split the first Dune novel into two movies. But not showing Piter, Mapes, and the Emperor seems odd.
The Shai Hulud (Sandworms):
We’re still not completely sold on the almost baleen-like teeth of the sandworms. The size is pretty perfect, as is the feeling of awe and dread we felt when reading that sequence for the first time.
Starring Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as the Lady Jessica, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Stellan Sarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as the Beast Raban, David Dastmalchian as Piter deVrys, Chen Chang as Doctor Wellington Yueh, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet-Kynes, and Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam.
Hans Zimmer is composing the score.
“Dune” is still set to hit theaters on December 18th, 2020. BUT- there are rumblings right now that “Wonder Woman 1984″ may be sliding into the December release block, which would obviously push “Dune” back into 2021. We’re holding out for March of 2021 (>this< author’s birthday month!).
Shai Hulud.
