Dune: Part Two officially greenlit following film's successful opening weekend

Frank Herbert fans, rejoice: A sequel to director Denis Villeneuve's new Dune is coming, and it already has a premiere date.

Legendary confirmed publicly on Tuesday that Dune: Part Two is officially in the works, with Villeneuve set to return alongside stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and others following a successful opening weekend. The sequel is set to be released on Oct. 20, 2023, according to Warner Bros.

"This is only the beginning," Legendary wrote on Twitter, echoing the line of dialogue uttered by Chani (Zendaya) at the end of the film. "Thank you to those who have experienced @dunemovie so far, and those who are going in the days and weeks ahead. We're excited to continue the journey!"

Villeneuve's Dune was first announced back in 2016. The director recently told EW that splitting Herbert's epic tome into two films was one of the first things he agreed on with Warner Bros. As any fan will tell you, Dune is a long, twisty narrative packed with out-there concepts like gigantic sandworms and a mind-altering spice; trying to fit it all into two and a half hours caused David Lynch's 1984 Dune adaptation to trip over itself at places.

Warner Bros. Pictures Timothée Chalamet in 'Dune'

But HBO Max didn't exist back in 2016, so Warner Bros. made a second Villeneuve Dune film conditional on the first one's performance. Once the studio announced that every movie on its 2021 release slate would start streaming on HBO Max the same day it hit theaters, maintaining such a standard felt unfair. Since HBO Max subscribers will be able to watch Dune without buying a ticket if they so choose, box office totals won't exactly reflect audience interest. So now a second film has been officially confirmed, and prospective Dune viewers don't have to worry that the story they're watching might never conclude.

When EW spoke with Dune stars Dave Bautista and Stellan Skarsgard at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month, we asked what excited them about a potential Part Two.

"We're all just waiting to proudly be able to say that, yes, we're going to go into the sequel," said Bautista, who plays Beast Rabban, the nephew of Skarsgard's villainous Baron Harkonnen. "Obviously it has not been confirmed, but we know it's going to happen. We just want to get the go-ahead to just start talking about it! I'm super-excited about it."

Good news for Bautista and the rest of Dune fandom: Now we can talk about it!

Related content:

• Watch Dune stars discuss their 'magical' collaboration and the meaning of the spice

• Doing Dune right: Inside the making of the long-awaited (and star-packed) adaptation

• Queen of the Desert: How Rebecca Ferguson faced her fears with Dune