Dune is an absolutely epic story that has dozens of important characters and deals with a complex plot that covers everything from politics to religion. If you've read the book, then seeing the trailer for Denis Villeneuve's new movie was a big deal as it was the first time we got to see how many fan-favorite characters and concepts will be brought to life. If you haven't read Dune, however, if you're only passingly familiar with the story, then there may really be only one part of the story you know about, sandworms. They were in the big reveal at the end of the new trailer and now we're even more excited to finally see Dune.
Even if the name Paul Atreides means nothing to you, you're probably familiar with the fact that Dune has massive creatures living under the desert called sandworms. Director Denis Villeneuve totally understands that feeling. In an interview with EW, the director says that figuring out how to properly make the worms of Arrakis was literally the first question after deciding to make the film. A lot of elements had to go into the creatures, including making them "god-like." According to Villeneuve...
I think that as soon as you say, 'okay, let’s make Dune,' you go back home and the first thing you ask is, 'okay, what about the worm?' It’s a fantastic central figure of Dune’s story, that massive creature that lives in the deep desert, so when we were creating the worm I tried to create a lifeform that you will totally believe can go and survive in this land. So of course it has to have some prehistoric quality to it, because it’s living in the most rough environment. It was a lot of dreaming. We took our time with it. I deeply love the worm we came up with. It was important for me to understand that this huge creature has a soul, to understand that it is revered as a god-like figure.
A good look at the Dune sandworm was kept until the end of the new trailer, but in the final moments we got a real look at the creature, and yeah, it's not too difficult to understand why some might view something that massive as a god. In Dune, the Freman, the indigenous people of the desert planet Arrakis, see the sandworms as divine creatures, but for those that are simply there to mine the vital melange, they're are just dangerous beasts capable of destroying machines and killing people.
But simply because they are so big, both physically and in regards to their importance in the story, they've become one of the most iconic images in all of Dune, and thus even people who might not be familiar with the books or the previous adaptations are at least aware that the sandworms exist. Getting them right was always going to be important to the new production.
They'll look even more massive on the big screen, which we will still get to actually see, at least right now, as Dune is still scheduled to hit theaters in December.
