The first trailer for Dune is finally here!

Forget the Spice! It’s the trailers that must flow as Warner Bros. has finally dropped the first preview for Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming feature film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Arguably the greatest sci-fi novel ever written, the prospect of successfully translating Dune to screen as a feature film (unlike David Lynch’s messy 1984 attempt) would be one that I would normally be dreading. However, in Villeneuve we have an unparalleled filmmaker at the moment whose genius work on the likes of Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Sicario, Prisoners, and more have put him in a league of his own. If anybody could bring Herbert’s immensely complex world to life, it’s him.

Even such a talented filmmaker can’t be expected to do the impossible though, which is why Villeneuve is splitting up the messianic rise of Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet) into two parts. And now, following some early released pictures and brief teaser trailer yesterday that reminded us that “Fear is the mind killer”, we finally got our first proper look at how this hugely anticipated epic sci-fi duology will kick off… and it’s more than just a trailer!

Stephen Colbert led Villeneuve and the cast in an exclusive behind-the-scenes Q&A that gave us a great intro to the characters as well as showing off a bunch of footage. And some utterly hilarious burns from the cast! Check it out below!

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Besides for Chalamet, Dune boasts, quite frankly, a ridiculous cast. The star-studded ensemble consists of Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica Atreides, Oscar Issac as Duke Leto Atreides, Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Stephen Mckinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet Kynes (changed from a man in the novel to a woman now), Dave Bautista as Glossu “Beast” Rabban, and Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. It should be illegal to have that much talent on-screen at once.

There’s a lot more to unpack here. Obviously, being a Villeneuve movie, this looks gorgeous as hell. Well, except for Baron Harkonnen, of course. I do also love the implementation of the body shields and stillsuits. And damn that is one toothy worm! One thing I can’t quite work out from the footage though, is exactly where Villeneuve has chosen to split Herbert’s novel in two. Either way, I am super stoked for this!

There’s only one small problem. Last we heard Dune was scheduled to hit theatres on 18 December 2020, but the trailer was noticeably missing a release date. That tells me that Warner Bros. have not yet committed to releasing this year, unlike what they did with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Could Dune become a 2021 release?