In the latter half of Frank Herbert’s renowned science fiction novel, Dune, a pivotal event takes place that alters the course of the story. This occurs when Paul Atreides, the son of a Duke left for dead, demonstrates his worth to the Fremen, the indigenous inhabitants of the desert planet Arrakis who have been safeguarding him and his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Book readers know, of course, exactly what happens.\u00a0After months of preparation, Paul takes his hooks, runs along the top of a sand dune and, at just the right moment, falls\u00a0into a storm of sand created by the huge sandworm that has been coming towards him. As he falls, he grapples one hook onto the worm. Then a second. Slowly he uses the long ropes attached to move into a position on top of the sandworm. And then he\u2019s there,\u00a0on top of a sandworm, riding it, proof that he\u2019s one of the Fremen people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That moment, as described,\u00a0was front and center in\u00a0the first footage from\u00a0Dune: Part Two<\/em>\u00a0that played at CinemaCon 2023 on Tuesday. Stars Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Zendaya were joined by director Denis Villeneuve to hype up the upcoming sequel,\u00a0which hits theaters November 3. And hype it they did with a brief Q&A and\u00a0finally, the footage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It began with Paul (Chalamet) and Chani (Zendaya) sitting on top of a sand dune. Paul tells her that everywhere she sees sand, to imagine water. Water so deep you can\u2019t even touch the bottom. Water you would dive into. She says she doesn\u2019t believe him, but he says it\u2019s called swimming. You can see that they\u2019re bonding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A voiceover by Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) talks of the deep secrets of the planet Arrakis, but that one secret is bigger than them all. It\u2019s what happened to end House Atreides. \u201cWhat if Paul is still alive?\u201d she asks. Well, he is. This all happens over a bunch of shots with very different visuals. One shot is Austin Butler\u2019s character, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, who is a deadly assassin with bright white skin and no hair. His scenes seem to look almost completely black and white. Next is two people fighting in a very red environment, then also a shot of a character\u2019s head cocking back with bright, blue eyes, which is a Fremen trait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About here is where Chani starts to psych Paul up as he places a thumper into the ground. She\u2019s getting him ready to attempt the sandworm ride we\u2019ve already described above. In this footage though, the scenes of Paul running, jumping, and hooking into the worm are intercut with him talking to Stilgar, played by Javier Bardem. He\u2019s a Fremen leader who develops a connection with Paul. Stilgar tells Paul not to try anything impressive. To be simple and direct. Don\u2019t try anything fancy. Paul gives him a little smile, knowing that he won\u2019t be following any of that advice. He\u2019s going to showboat, and he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Paul gets on the sandworm, we see a shot of dozens of Thopters flying, another shot of two people fighting in black and white, a kiss between Paul and Chani, and finally a shot of Paul walking to the top of a ridge and hundreds of people below him. He throws his fist in the air and they all cheer. This is then quickly intercut with a darkly shadowed scene of two people ready to have a knife fight, most likely Paul and Feyd-Rautha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFury Will Rise\u201d is on the screen earlier in the trailer, as well as brief shots of Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, L\u00e9a Seydoux as Lady Margot, and Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban. Basically, as Villeneuve said at the presentation, this is a \u201cmore action-packed epic war movie\u201d than the first movie. And though it takes place on the same planet, they didn\u2019t revisit one set or location in the entire shoot. It was all new stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSPOILER ALERT!!!<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n