Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune adaptation continues to draw in big talent as Stellan Skarsgard signs on to play one of the film’s villains. Dave Bautista, Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson are all already attached to star. Villeneuve has also recruited talent behind the scenes with his Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival editor, Joe Walker, and Greig Fraser who worked as the cinematographer on Zero Dark Thirty and Rogue One.
Dune is one of the most celebrated literary series of the 20th century. It follows the Atreides family’s struggle for control over the desert planet of Arrakis while the galactic emperor schemes against them. The planet is so highly-coveted because control of the planet gives them ownership of the planet’s highly-coveted export, spice.
Skarsgard has signed on to play a villain of the film, Baron Harkonnen, a man whose family ruled Arrakis in the past and is plotting with the emperor against the Atreides family. Chalamet will star opposite Skarsgard as Paul, the last son of the Atreides family, who leads an uprising to try to overthrow the empire.
Skarsgard was seen most recently in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and is best known for playing Dr. Erik Selvig in Marvel’s Thor and Avengers movies. Other than Dune he is also currently working on the WWII drama The Painted Bird and HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries.
Villeneuve wrote the Dune script alongside Eric Roth, and Jon Spaihts, no release date has been announced but filming is set to start filming this spring in Budapest and Jordan.
