If he were younger, I'd say Michael Dorn could play Leto (he played a version of Leto in one of the Westwood Games Dune PC games and a blonde actress to pay Jessica (I don't know which one could.) These days, I'd say Clark Greg as Leto, with Robin Wright as Jessica. That's all I can think of now.
Dorn actually played Duke Achillus. The heads of the houses were all invented characters for the Westwood games. (Still fun games, though.)
Yeah, I think an animated series would be a VERY hard sell. Animation is still seen in the west as mostly for kids and Dune is obviously not appropriate. Plus, despite what people seem to think *good* CG animation is very expensive for any weekly series. Clone Wars pulled it off because Lucasfilm has very deep pockets and a direct revenue stream via full control of the merchandising rights. Honestly, I can't see a live action Dune series costing all that much more to produce than GoT. They'd both have lavish sets, CG matt paintings for cites, set extension and the like, a lot of custom made costumes and CG creature effects. The only real difference is that the filming locations would have to look credible as the deep desert. As in NOTHING but sand as far as the eye can see. Digital grading can make things look hotter and more arid (Dune's sky is supposed to be silvery instead of blue for example) but you still need the steep dunes. Mind you, most of the book takes place indoors with only a few big set pieces (VFX wise) spread out across what would be three seasons. The spice harvester/worm attack, the fall of Arakeen & flight into the desert, Paul's worm riding trial and the final battle of Arakeen. Everything else is pretty straight forwards. Indeed like in GoT they'd probably have to add in more action in places to keep people interested. It's still expensive, but these days it's very doable and if it becomes a hit, even profitable. As with all things though it comes down to the execution. It'd need a very talented showrunner, a team of competent writers and directors and one hell of a cast. ...Also, Bryan Cranston as the Baron....or Shaddam....Or Thufir. Point is, he has to be in there some where.
Having read Dune and found it utterly tedious, I'm in no hurry for any further versions of it. At all...
He certainly has the gravitas, but perhaps he looks a little young for the part. IIRC Shaddam is said to look no older than 30-ish despite being in his 70's thanks to the spice melange. Perhaps for simplicity (and perhaps credibility) sake that detail can be altered somewhat. I believe the Lynch movie got around casting an older actor by saying the character is actually 200 years old.
There was talk of an animated Dune series to be called Tales of Dune, IIRC, but nothing has come of it.
When I watched the beginning of the first promo for the show "Tyrant" all you could see was desert. I found myself hoping it was a God Emperor miniseries.
I strongly believe that Dune would make a good GoT style of TV series. While many big set pieces would take more money, much of the world building would take up most of seasons 1. Having the different Houses established, their history and the conflict. Especially the history of the Atreides and the Harkonnen. I mean, the first part of Dune is pretty thick. You have the Duke moving to Arrakis, you have the Harkonnen scheme, as well as the dinner party. I mean, that really is one season right there.
A whole season? That's 3 or 4 episodes tops, the entire novel can be easily done in 10-13 episodes, with the combined Messiah/Children as season 2.
Yeah, I'd say it would drag things out way to long if you were try to drag just the first Dune book out for multiple seasons. It's about 300 pages less than GOT, so if anything it would probably take a few less episodes to do it, depending on how true they stay to the books.
Really? You think so? Because, you have the Atredis leaving Caladan, with the whole Bene Gesseritt test for Paul. You have the trip to Arrakis, with the training with Gurne Halleck. Plus, the introduction to Arrakis, the assassination attempt, the different levels of intrigue and characters. I'm not saying that it could not be shorter, but I personally would not want Dune done in 3 or 4 episodes. That leaves absolutely no room for the intrigue, the political fighting amongst the House Minors, the introduction of Shaddam and his right hand man, or Paul's training. I know I am a Dune purist but a season seems reasonable to me. I mean, the point is to capture the intrigue, in fighting, assassination attempts, and the like.
Given that I'm very much a 'new-school' Dune fan (albeit one with the intention of experiencing the entirety of the series at some point), my ideal TV series based in that universe would either be built around the Butlerian Jihad or House/Prelude stories.
Sounds like a HORRIBLE idea. It'd be like building the new Star Wars films around Jar Jar Binks and setting the whole thing in the Ewok village. Horrible, horrible idea.
^ I disagree. The Jihad stories would provide excellent fodder for a serialized series in the vein of B5, DS9, etc., and the House/Prelude stories would make for an excellent character-focused drama with Sci-Fi trappings. You might not personally care for the 'new-school' Dune stuff, but there are good stories in them that would make for exciting TV (speaking as someone who enjoys the medium in general).
How so? I am not a fan of the Jihad, but the House prequels are far more political intrigue than action like Dune, so it has potential. I need to pick up "Sisterhood of Dune" and see how that fits in.
Well, I'll say one thing about the prequel novels -- fandom wouldn't be up in arms if a television series decided to take liberties with them.
Original Dune is vastly more widely-recognized and, frankly, better liked than the Herbert/Anderson prequels. Couldn't see any large number of people wanting the latter in t.v. show format. Anyway, just dropping by because this seems the right thread for Goodnight Dune. Enjoy.