One of the principal players in the epic sci-fi tale called Dune is Gurney Halleck, the weapons expert for House Atreides and one of Paul Atreides’ mentor. Halleck was played in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation by Josh Brolin, and when we left off with this version of the character, he was seen charging towards a group of Harkonnen soldiers during the assault on the Atriedes’ stronghold on Arrakis. Halleck’s fate was among the many loose ends left over by the latest Dune movie, but Brolin has now clarified the “ridiculous” situation regarding his involvement in Dune 2, a.k.a. Dune: Part Two, which is among the upcoming movies to look forward to in 2023.
While readers of the original Dune novel by Frank Herbert are obviously well aware of what happens to Gurney Halleck by the end of the story, those who’ve only seen Denis Villeneuve’s Dune were likely wondering what had happened to him when the movie was over. Well, no need to worry, as Josh Brolin informed Collider that he is indeed attached to Dune: Part Two, and even went the extra mile to make sure the public knows this. The actor explained:
I am a part of Dune: Part Two, to the ridiculous extent of when somebody mentioned to me that it wasn’t on IMDb, I actually went out of my way to call Liz (his publicist) and say, ‘Can you please put that on IMDb?’ Because it’s a proud moment for me, man.
IMDB doesn’t always have accurate information when it comes to upcoming movies, but if you find yourself on the Dune: Part Two page, know that Josh Brolin’s name is supposed to be there; he made sure of it! Yes, Gurney Halleck is still alive when Denis Villeneuve’s Dune ends, and Brolin is eager to work with the filmmaker again, taking some time during the interview to praise Villeneuve for his professionalism and humbleness on the Dune set. And while Dune did shine among the 2022 Academy Award winners in multiple categories, Brolin called Villeneuve being snubbed from the Best Director category “asinine” and “bizarre.”
I won’t share any spoilers about what happens to Gurney Halleck in the Dune novel so that moviegoers not familiar with the source material can go into Dune: Part Two as fresh as possible. That being said, expect to see Gurney in more action sequences, which means Josh Brolin will have to train even harder on this movie compared to its predecessor. As he put it:
Javier [Bardem] and I had a similar thing that we both admitted to each other at the Oscars, because we both have a little bit of paunch right now. And we talked to Denis. We hadn’t read anything, and we talked to Denis the week before. He was like, ‘You guys are fighting the whole time. And you’ve been in the desert with the Fremen and all that.’ And we fucking panicked. We looked down and saw this little friend that we’ve been holding on our abdomen. So we were both on full diet mode at the Oscars, even though you absolutely couldn’t tell. We were already in diet mode, in panic diet mode.
The other familiar faces joining Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem in Dune: Part Two include Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Stellan Skarsgård and Dave Bautista. As for the newcomers, so far we’ve heard that Black Widow’s Florence Pugh has been approached to play Princess Irulan Corrino, and Elvis’ Austin Butler is in negotiations to play Feyd-Rautha, but neither casting has been officially confirmed yet. Filming on Part Two is expected to begin in July.
In addition to Dune: Part Two being slated for October 20, 2023, Denis Villeneuve has expressed interest in making a Dune: Messiah adaptation to round out his trilogy. HBO Max also still has the prequel spinoff series Dune: The Sisterhood in the works. As always, stay locked on CinemaBlend for the biggest Dune-related updates.