First Look At Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides From Dune Released

John F. Trent |

Apr 13, 2020

A first look at Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides from Dune has been released.

The photo was released as an exclusive to Vanity Fair.

The photo (seen below) shows Paul still on his home planet of Caladan before he and his family travel to Arrakis and take over the dangerous spice mining operations of the desert planet.

Not only are the spice mining operations dangerous, but the assignment to take over the planet throws the Atreides family into political turmoil as they will quickly butt heads with House Harkonnen, who previously were operating the mining operations on Arrakis.

First look at Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE. pic.twitter.com/KJmdu7F284

— ⊃∪∩⪽ (@DuneNews) April 13, 2020

Here’s a good look:

Along with a first look at Chalamet as Atreides, the actor also detailed what he found interesting about Paul’s character.

He explained, “The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts.”

He added, “He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”

Very early reactions had high praise for director Denis Villeneuve’s film. Writer Brian Clement described the film as a “mix of grimy realism and dreamlike imagery.”

He added, “I think this will blow people away the way LOTR did 20 years ago, the way Star Wars did 40 years ago. It’s not Jodorowsky or Lynch, but maybe Villeneuve has filmed the un-filmable.”

According to a script of the film obtained by Bounding Into Comics, the film will make some changes to Frank Herbert’s iconic book. One of those changes in the script will be a gender-swapped Liet Kynes.

For those unfamiliar with Kynes. He is the Judge of the Change, who is appointed to oversee the transition of power from House Harkonnen to House Atriedies.

Not only is Kynes the Judge of the Change, but he is an Imperial Ecologist, who is working to terraform Arrakis from a desert planet into a lush one overflowing with water and green plant life.

He also happens to be the secret leader of the Fremen, the indigenous people of Arrakis, and becomes a strong ally to House Atreides in their struggle against House Harkonnen.

According to the script obtained by Bounding Into Comics, Kynes is described as a “tall, lean woman in her forties who exudes pride and intelligence. She has sandy hair, a sun-tanned face, and the shocking blue eyes of spice saturation.”

In Frank Herbert’s book, Kynes is described by Duke Leo Atreides, Paul’s father as, “…tall, thin…long sandy hair, a sparse beard. The eyes were that fathomless blue-within-blue under thick brows.”

He also described him in Chapter 2, “His long hair and beard were mussed. The blue eyes without whites were a darkness under heavy brows.”

Herbert added, “Wisps of sandy hair protruded from it, matched by a sparse beard and thick brows. Beneath the blue-within-blue eyes, remains of a dark stain spread down to his cheeks. A matted depression across mustache and beard showed where a stillsuit tube had marked out its path.

TV Series Tie-In

Along with the upcoming film, Villeneuve is also working on a TV series tie-in to the film featuring the Bene Gesserit.

The series is expected to be titled Dune: The Sisterhood. It’s to focus on the Bene Gesserit as they wield their political acumen throughout the Imperium and pursue their plans that leads them to the planet Arrakis aka Dune.

The pilot episode of the series is expected to be directed by Villeneuve based off a script written by Jon Spaihts.

Villeneuve touch on the series back in June 2019.

“The Bene Gesserit have always been fascinating to me,” Villeneuve said.

He added, “Focusing a series around that powerful order of women seemed not only relevant and inspiring but a dynamic setting for the television series.”

The series is expected to debut on HBO Max.

Villeneuve’s Dune is still scheduled to release on December 18. The film features a star-studded including Chalamet. It also stars Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Zendaya as Chani, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Javier Barden as Stilgar, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leo Atreides, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Thufir Hawat, Chen Chang as Dr. Wellington Yueh.