Florence Pugh in talks to join ‘Dune Part 2’
Black Widow star Florence Pugh is in talks to join Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and more in the sequel to the cinematic epic science-fiction movie Dune.
Variety reports that the Oscar-nominated star of Little Women and Midsommar is in negotiations to join the cast of Dune: Part 2.
Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros.’critically acclaimed and commercially successful film Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve recently snagged 10 Oscar nominations, including nods for best picture and best adapted screenplay and grossed nearly $400 million globally.
If the deal closes, Pugh will play Princess Irulan Corrino, a royal who becomes romantically involved with Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. In the original novel, the character plays a critical role as an important historian who chronicled the events of Paul’s rise to the Imperial throne through a series of written works.
Dune, which was finally released in theaters in October 2021 and on HBO GO in the Philippines last December, covered only half of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel.
The first film’s events covered the fall of the powerful House Atreides, an aristocratic family sent to the desert planet of Arrakis by a powerful empire to serve as proxy rulers.
Production on the sequel is expected to start this summer, and the film is slated to hit theaters on Oct. 20, 2023.
Dune Part 2 will bring back much of the ensemble from the first film, including Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya and Javier Bardem. Denis Villeneuve is set to return as director.
When previously talking about the sequel in the planned trilogy, Villeneuve teased that this next movie is going to the “main meal.” The director previously shared that Dune: Part One is just “an appetizer for the second part still to come.
Pugh most recently reprised her role as Yelena Belova in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Widow on the Disney Plus series Hawkeye. She will soon be seen acting opposite Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and will also appear in Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling.