If there's one thing that most people know about DUNE, it's the sandworms. Sure, there's also characters creepily whispering the word "spice", and Sting in his underwear from the David Lynch version, but – generally speaking – the vast alien desert and the giant sandworms that reside within it is the image most people conjure up when they think of DUNE, which are (according to wikipedia):
colossal…creatures that live on the desert planet Arrakis. Arrakis is the only known source in the universe of the fictional drug "melange", which is highly prized for its medicinal and mystical properties. Melange deposits are found in the sand seas of Arrakis, where the sandworms live and hunt. Sandworms are a routine hazard for melange-harvesting vehicles, which must be airlifted in and out of the sand seas to evade sandworm attacks. The sandworms are tolerated because they are almost indestructible and melange is a byproduct of their life cycle.
Meanwhile, here's what the director of the upcoming adaptation – Denis Villeneuve – had to say about his process of designing said creatures in a recent interview with Empire magazine:
We talked about every little detail that would make such a beast possible, from the texture of the skin, to the way the mouth opens, to the system to eat its food in the sand. It was a year of work to design and to find the perfect shape that looked prehistoric enough.
Sounds good to me! If anything, again, the sandworms are probably the most iconic aspect of DUNE to the average viewer, and it's one of the things you really can't f*ck up. Let's hope that year was time well spent!
Anyway, the film – with an all star cast that includes Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, and Rebecca Ferguson – is expected to still hit theaters December 18th. Here's the official synopsis:
set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "the spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is thus a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.
But what do you guys think? Excited for the new film? Either way, sound off below!