Dune: Part Two is one of the year's most highly-anticipated sci-fi offerings and fans currently have their fingers crossed that Warner Bros. and Legendary don't push the film back from its current November 3, 2023 release date.
The latest reports state that WB and Legendary are concerned about the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and the effect of its ban on actors promoting their upcoming films. The fear is that such a restriction will negatively impact the sequel's box office and awards season chances.
On a more positive note, one such reason for the increased hype around the sequel is the debut of Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (a role infamously played by Sting in the 1984 film).
Butler is known for the mesmerizing performances he achieves through method acting. For Elvis, he never broke character, didn't see his family for three years, and had trouble shaking his accent once filming wrapped.
However, Butler may have dialed back the intensity for his supporting role in Dune: Part Two.
Speaking to his alma mater on the This is Purdue podcast, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson (who portrays Thufir Hawat in the sequel) had nothing but praise for Butler.
"[Butler] played a character that was not very happy with me at all, and he was quite chilling, and I was giving him back the looks," said McKinley Henderson.
"But when they say, 'Cut,' he would come over and say, 'Mr. Henderson, are you okay? Can I help you? Can I get you anything?' And he was just so nice. And then we'd go back to roll and he went, 'Ugh.' He was on my case. So I just so appreciated Austin, a wonderful, wonderful person."
There wasn't a whole lot of Butler's Feyd-Rautha in the first trailer but that figures to change whenever the next one is released.
Dune: Part Two” will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
Denis Villeneuve directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts based on Herbert’s novel.