While Dune is hoping to achieve awards success in a couple of weeks at the Oscars, Deadline are reporting that Florence Pugh is in talks to join Dune Part Two in the role of Princess Irulan Corrino, the eldest daughter of Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV.
It was recently revealed that filming for Dune 2 is due to get underway in Autumn of 2022. Director Denis Villeneuve and most of the first film’s cast are returning, including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård and Zendaya, who is expected to have more screen time. It is expected to be released in Autumn of 2023.
Despite releasing on HBO Max in the US on the day-and-date of its theatrical release, Dune still managed to make $400 million. It is nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, although surprisingly, Denis Villeneuve did not get a Best Director nomination. Villeneuve, along with writers Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, have been praised for adapting a challenging book. The delay in the filming schedule for Dune 2 will allow more time to hone the screenplay, which is no mean feat.
British actress Florence Pugh is much in-demand at the moment, after having something of a meteoric rise in the last few years. In 2019, she starred in Ari Aster’s Midsommar and was Oscar-nominated for playing Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (co-starring with Paul Atreides himself). In 2021, she joined the MCU as Black Widow’s sister Yelena.
She has finished filming Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling with Harry Styles and Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder. She is currently filming Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and is reportedly one of the many young actress-singers undergoing a strenuous boot camp in the hopes of playing Madonna in the pop icon’s biopic. Pugh’s name has been attached to many projects, so it remains to be seen if this Dune 2 role will come to fruition.
While we wait for confirmation of this Dune 2 news, you may well have questions about Frank Herbert’s confusing worlds. Fear not, we’ve got you well and truly covered – allow us to talk you through sandworms, spice, all things Atreides and the ending of Dune 1.