Variety has reported that Oscar Isaac is the latest star in talks to join the cast of the reboot of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel Dune. He will join a cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling.
The reboot is being helmed by filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (director of Arrival and Blade Runner 2049) for Legendary Entertainment. Villeneuve is co-writing the script with Eric Roth (co-writer of the latest reboot of A Star is Born and Munich) and Jon Spaihts (Doctor Strange and Passengers).
Isaac will be playing Duke Atreides, the father of Chalamet’s Paul Atreides.
Set in the far distant future, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, whose family assumes control of the desert planet Arrakis. The planet is the only source of the highly valuable and sought after “spice” – the element that makes space travel in this universe possible. After Paul and his family are betrayed, he flees to the desert taking shelter with the planet’s indigenous people, the “fremen.” The epic saga explores themes of religion, prophecy, colonization, war, politics, and man’s relationship to nature as Paul leads a rebellion to retake his family’s legacy and possibly fulfill a long awaited prophecy.
Dune is currently in pre-production.