WARNING: The following article contains very minor spoilers for Dune: Part Two.
Dune: Part Two is a continuation of the events that occur in Denis Villenueve’s 2021 film, Dune. It further tracks the journey of Paul Atreides and all of the people he meets along his journey to reach his full potential and honor his bloodline. The original flick also featured some creatures that were specific to the world within the film, like the Muad’Dib, and most notably the gigantic spooky sandworms. The native people in the sci-fi tale, known as the Fremen, ride the worms to quickly get from place to place in the desert. In the new film, audiences see the incredible strength needed to ride a sandworm, however we never see Fremen getting off the terrifying creatures. While it’s not depicted, Villeneuve still has all the answers on that.
Adapting Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, is no easy task. The text is famously dense, as it has lots of interworld politics and a complex story at its core. Therefore, when it comes to a book-to-screen adaptation, it’s understandable that some content would get removed amid the screenwriting process. Denis Villeneuve is incredibly educated on Herbert’s fictional universe but still made the careful choice to never show the Fremen dismount from sandworms after riding them. However, this doesn’t mean he doesn’t have ideas on that front. He told IndieWire:
I knew how. I found a way. It was not dramatically necessary in ‘Dune: Part Two’ to see someone get out of the worm, but I know how to do it. And I can’t wait to put that on screen.
While fans may have been hoping to see this process in the highly anticipated sequel, they shouldn’t fret. It seems like the director has every intent on showing this eventually, giving more functional context to the world at the center of the franchise. This statement also suggests that the filmmaker has every expectation of making a third Dune film. The end of Part Two definitely leaves a lot of room for another story, and there is so much that still needs to be explored.
As a fan, I wonder if the dismount from a sandworm is as cinematic as the process of getting one of the desert-dwelling creatures. There are unforgettable sequences in both films of Fremen getting on the sandworms to ride them and, due to the beasts’ size, one can imagine it takes an immense amount of physical strength and coordination to do such a thing. The Fremen are desert people, who know the worms better than anyone so, even if dismounting is a difficult task, they likely make it look easy.
The imposing creatures are incredibly important to the story and the world of Dune, so it’s no surprise that Denis Villeneuve has put a lot of thought into how to utilize them. He’s answered several questions about the sandworms in the past yet still keeps some knowledge close to the chest to avoid spoiling the epic story. The Dune saga spans several novels, filled with lore about the creatures and characters within the universe. Not everything may make it into the movies, but I’m glad to hear that Villeneuve still has every intention of expanding on this aspect of the Fremen even further.
You can see the iconic sandworms in the critically acclaimed Dune: Part Two, which is currently playing in theaters nationwide and is one of the biggest films on the 2024 movie schedule. Given its scope, make sure to see it on the biggest screen possible while you still can. Fans can also revisit the introduction of sandworms in the film’s 2021 predecessor which is currently streamable for Max subscribers.