Why Oscar Isaac Is Perfect For the ‘Dune’ Reboot

The news isn’t final yet, but the word going around today is that Oscar Isaac is lined up to take the role of Duke Leto Atreides in the Legendary Pictures production of Frank Herbert’s Dune, to be directed by Arrival and Blade Runner 2049‘s Denis Villeneuve.

Already, Timothée Chalamet has been cast in the lead role of the Duke’s son, Paul Atreides, who sets out to avenge his family and take his place as the prophesied kwisatz haderach. It’s all very dense and exciting, and I haven’t even gotten to the part about the giant sandworms that excrete a spice that both gets you high and enables space travel!

Also taking part in the Dune Denis Villeneuve cast: Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica Atreides, Leto’s wife (well, technically his “bound concubine,” because they can’t marry for political reasons having to do with the ancient order of mystical nuns Jessica was raised in, whose leaders very tightly control breeding among the high families and who are secretly trying to breed the aforementioned kwisatz haderach) and Paul’s mother; Stellan Skarsgard will play the villainous Baron Harkonnen; Charlotte Rampling plays the Reverend Mother of the aforementioned mystical order of space nuns (the “bene gesserit”); and Dave Bautista plays the brutal local governor the “Beast” Rabban.

Into this very intriguing cast (with quite a few major roles as yet unfilled) steps Oscar Isaac. This isn’t a lead; he doesn’t get to be the ace flyboy like in Star Wars. Here, he’d be the patriarch, whose wise (if occasionally naive) example of leadership needs to inspire his son to step up. Isaac as Chalamet’s father makes a lot of sense, and not just in the “great hair” department. As two of the signature stars of this very minute in Hollywood, they both have a kind of antic spark to them, and an inner strength that sometimes feels like it has to be teased out.

And if Duke Leto is the kind of figure who will inspire young Paul long after he’s gone, Oscar Isaac is indeed just that charismatic and memorable.

AND, if Dune ends up spawning sequels (Herbert’s novel began an entire series about the planet Arakkis and its surrounding universe), it would give Isaac a trio of major film franchises in which he’s participated, after Star Wars and X-Men.

Previously, the role of Duke Leto was played by Jurgen Prochnow in the 1984 David Lynch version and by William Hurt in the 2000 SyFy channel miniseries. Oscar Isaac would be the younger, sexier version of Duke Leto among this trio, but we’re living in younger, sexier times, I suppose.