Because Denis Villeneuve opted to only adapt the first half of Frank Herbert’s original Dune novel with his first Dune movie, that resulted in a handful of characters from the original source material being left out. Fortunately for the filmmaker and fans of his take on Dune, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures greenlit a sequel to chronicle that latter half. Over the last few months, we’ve learned about some of the new faces who’ll be along for the Dune 2 ride, and the latest addition to that group is a star from some recent James Bond movies.
Léa Seydoux, who played Madeleine Swann, the love interest to Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Spectre and No Time to Die, is currently in negotiations to join Dune 2. According to Deadline, once the deal is finalized, Seydoux will play Margot, Lady Fenring, the wife of Count Hasimir Fenring and member of the Bene Gesserit, just like Lady Jessica, Paul Atreides’ mother. Without going into specific spoilers, Margot ends up being one of Paul’s allies, even after House Atreides is overthrown by the scheming Harkonnens.
This latest Dune 2 casting comes a few weeks after Léa Seydoux’s latest movie, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, opened to the public. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, as did another one of Seydoux’s upcoming movies, One Fine Morning, which doesn’t have a release date set yet. Along with her important presence in Daniel Craig’s final two James Bond movies, Seydoux’s other recent credits include Zoe, The French Dispatch and The Story of My Wife.
Léa Seydoux is the fourth newcomer to be added to the Dune 2 cast. Back in March, we learned that Black Widow’s Florence Pugh was being eyed to play Princess Irulan and Elvis’ Austin Butler was being lined up to play Feud-Rautha. Both those castings have since been confirmed, and here’s an extra tidbit of information concerning Margot’s role in Dune: she shares scenes with Feyd-Rautha, Baron Vladimir Hakonnen’s cunning nephew. Then in May, Christopher Walken was cast in Dune 2 as Emperor Shaddam IV, whose closest friend is Count Hasimir Fenring. So while Margot is married to the Count, their allegiances couldn’t be more different.
Among the actors reprising their roles from Denis Villenueve’s first Dune movie are Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård and Dave Bautista. In addition to sitting back in the director’s chair, Denis Villeneue co-wrote the Dune 2 script with Jon Spaihts. Production is expected to begin to start this fall, and the sequel will arrive in theaters on October 20, 2023.
In addition to Dune 2 coming down the pipeline, an HBO Max series called Dune: The Sisterhood is in development, and Denis Villeneuve has also expressed interest in rounding out his run with Frank Herbert’s saga by adapting Dune Messiah. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all major updates on what’s happening with the Dune mythology in live-action.