It may be all doom and gloom this year, but for nerds it’s more Dune and…Zoom? Listen they can’t all be winners. There’s a film project currently neck-deep in development, and so far it looks like a banger. Dune has long since been the most underrated sci-fi series ever made, best summed up as an example of what Star Wars would be like if it didn’t give a shit about anyone’s feelings.
It is sand and spice, betrayal and unlikely familial bonding across a tapestry that is woven across the vast cosmos itself amidst a background of intergalactic politics. Director Denis Villeneuve is tackling that meaty saga in his own unique style, with a heavyweight cast that is simply too good to be true and still on track for a December release date.
That film will cover the first half of the original Dune book, but if you’re hungry for more exposition before it arrives, then you might want to cast your gaze towards BOOM! Studios. The comic book publisher has announced that they’ve landed the comic book and graphic novel publishing license for Dune: House Atreides, a prequel novel that’ll be getting a graphical adaptation and totally won’t be an accurate representation of the planet cosplaying as Arrakis when everything goes to hell.
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson will be hopping from their work on the original novel and into the comic book writing ring for this project. Here’s the synopsis for the project:
Set in the years leading up to the explosive events of Dune, DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES transports readers to the far future on the desert planet Arrakis where Pardot Kynes seeks its secrets. Meanwhile, a violent coup is planned by the son of Emperor Elrood; an eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho seeks to escape his cruel masters; and a young man named Leto Atreides begins a fateful journey. These unlikely souls will come together as renegades and soon discover that fate has decreed they will change the very shape of history.
“Dune: House Atreides holds a special place in my heart,” said Herbert in a press release.
It was the first novel Kevin and I wrote in my father’s fantastic Dune universe, and it is our first collaborative novel to be adapted for comics. In 1999, our novel was a surprise New York Times bestseller, and we have equally high expectations for this special BOOM! Studios adaptation.
“It’s been more than twenty years since Brian and I published House Atreides, the first of our new novels set in Frank Herbert’s Dune universe,” Anderson added.
We loved exploring all the possibilities Frank created for us, and those books introduced a whole new audience to Dune. Now, in adapting House Atreides into a vibrant graphic format, it’s like rediscovering the story and the world all over again. So much of the novel is visually driven, the union of comics and House Atreides is a natural.
As for the art side of this mini-series? That’ll be handled by…I actually have no idea, but I’m sure whoever ends up drawing the series will be an expert in sand by the time they’re done.
Last Updated: May 12, 2020
