Discussion Should the other books be adapted?

As those of you (unlike me) who have read the books would know, there are several more books in the Dune series, five of which were written by Frank Herbert himself, and approximately eighty bazillion of which were written by his dutiful son, Christopher Tolkien, in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson.

The subsequent Frank Herbert books are controversial enough additions to the Dune canon, and the prequels/sequels/spin-offs written after his death even more so. My question is: should any books be adapted after the original novel receives its two-film adaptation, and if so, where should they stop?

Based off several Hot Takes I read online, along with Wikipedia, the Internet's equivalent of an open-source God, there are a few options here:

Option 1: Stop after Dune, because everything else is varying levels of suck
Option 2: Stop after Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, completing what was originally billed as the Dune trilogy
Option 3: Stop after God Emperor of Dune, a work that is almost certainly unfilmable and would likely require the return of David Lynch to be even remotely faithful to the original novel
Option 4: Stop after Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, thereby adapting all six original novels but ending on an unresolved cliffhanger
Option 5: Stop after Hunter of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, the inferior sequels
Option 6: Never stop. Adapt all of the above, and continue with the prequels which are still being written and published to this day.

 

I think Denis should make these two movies and then go do something else.

Because his "something else" is always wonderful. He shouldn't be locked into a franchise.

I've pulled out my old Dune paperback and started reading it again for the first time in 20 years. Let's see if I can get to the second book

 

That entire series, as I was saying, already has following to this day. Just not a mainstream one. I think they are hoping to make this into a franchise that moviegoers are interested in following.

The first three books were good enough that if this first Dune production can cut it, they should follow up with the others.

After that? You have some good but not great stuff in Herbert's remaining Dune material; he has other non-Dune books/stories that are better.

A little analogy- Herbert's son replaces his writing about as well as Julian Lennon replaced John. If Herbert's son insists they make his stories, they will have to go straight to Roku free-streaming

They need to new material. The studio might buy the rights to rework or replace the next episode after Messiah/Children.

 

DUNE (I) would net some N millions of people / young people who have never heard of it. Then Dune Messiah and Children of Dune would deliver a stout, rounded out theatrical dessert. The Mazerunner trilogy comes to mind as having an analogous shape, or, uh, let's call it the supernova light curve... of the Dune Trilogy. Excellent entertainment, serviceable entertainment, and then this also happened. Clip or truncate there for theatrical. The next three original, authorized books can go to graphic novels and animation for apparently incorrigible addicts to the vision. Altered Carbon: Resleeved comes to mind as a model. It is there to service those who need to be weaned. Cost effective.

 

Dune Messiah definitely at least. It's basically an epilogue to the first book anyway.

 

I didn't like Dune mini but Children (Messiah + Children) was wonderful. Unlike Dune that suffered from stilted dialog and characters that didn't feel like actual characters, Children mini had none of these problems. Suddenly Paul and Chani started to act like a real couple. Everyone started to feel like a real character. relationships felt real. I don't know if "sacred cow" status of the first book made them less open to liberties but they took large number of them with Children mini (including dumping the stilted dialog arguably the biggest problem with Dune mini and Lynch movie) and it paid off.

I would say that Momoa casting hints at studio desire to franchise this beyond Villeneve's 2-parter. Duncan ghola is the main character in many (awful) sequels but they don't have to adapt those books but just use Duncan ghola and Dune universe. if they want.

So I wouldn't mind adapting other books cause they can work around weak spots. I just think that they are more suitable for series because they play like a soap opera.

 

I am in the wait and see approach, the casting of this film is fantastic but with that also comes scheduling conflicts, bigger roles and a tighter schedule. If Dune is a success than I hope the Sequel is throughly thought out and developed. One step at a time I see.

 

How about Option 7: Continue making sequels for as long as they're profitable but are in no shape or form based off the other books?

I never read the books and don't really plan to so I'm up for whatever sequel(s) we get as long as they're good.

 

Dewit.

Dune-it.

 

Option 4.Although,I do hope Villenuve directs the next 5 if they make it that far.A lazy director would just explain away what Leto II does as "Aw,Leto is crazy."

 

Any evidence that this is being rushed? To smack a quarterly?

 

I think if they are at least not putting some things down at the moment to plan ahead they are going to end up missing out on a great opportunity.

 

How is this being rushed? Pt 1 is finished. Pt 2 isn't going into production given the situation with covid-19 plus they wanted to wait and see how Pt 1 is received. They could've done LOTR/Deathly Hallows-like filming back to back but they didn't.