Dune director Denis Villeneuve

Denis Villeneuve is no stranger to turning ambitious projects around. He did it with 2016’s Arrival. He did it with 2017’s Blade Runner 2049. And he’ll do it once again with next year’s Dune. Yeah, that’s right, next year’s Dune. As in 2020.

As Variety reports, Warner Bros. has dated the star-studded sci-fi fantasy for a November 20th, 2020 release date. With shooting set to begin this Spring in Budapest and Jordan, Villeneuve will have a little over a year to stitch this colossal beast together.



That should be more than enough time; after all, Villeneuve’s not exactly one to skip out on his homework. As he told us way, way back in our 2017 Filmmaker of the Year profile, he came into this project fully prepared to let it consume his life.

“[Dune] is going to be a long process, and I want a long process because I need to digest what happened in the past six years,” he said. “I need to figure out how I want to evolve as a filmmaker, and more importantly, I need to make sure that I will do my homework to make this adaptation possible. If you ask me right now what I want to do in life, it would be Dune. That’s what I want to do, just focus on that.”

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It helps, of course, that he’s working with pros day in and day out, specifically Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto, Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica Atreides, Stellan Skarsgard as Vladimir Harkonnen, Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Zendaya as Chani, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, and Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam.

Dune tells the story of a fallen noble family and an evil galactic emperor, who battle for control over a desert planet named Arrakis, where a rare spice drug is the most lucrative export. Villeneuve adapted the story with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts.

Rest assured, spice won’t be an issue at next year’s Thanksgiving.