After Dune: Part 2, Denis Villeneuve wants to return to the desert to bring Cleopatra to life

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It's a story of power, nobility, family, and a history-shifting leader, all set in the desert.

If you're a scifi fan, you might think I'm talking about Dune: Part Two. But the sentence above isn't about a movie that director Denis Villeneuve has already made - it's a bout one he wants to. According to a recent interview with Time, Villeneuve wants to bring the story of Cleopatra to theaters.

This isn't the first time that we've heard news of Villeneuve tackling Egypt's most famous queen. In fact, the first reports of a Villeneuve-directed, Sony-produced Cleopatra biopic appeared all the way back in 2017, in a from Variety piece published as the director was promoting Blad Runner: 2049. However, the Time article mentioned above is the most recent confirmation that Villeneuve is still working on the project, and it provides some helpful details.

For example, Time mentions here that the biopic, if it comes out, would be based on historian Stacey Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography from 2011. The Time article also nails down a screenwriter - 1917 scribe Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

But even with these few details, tantalizing though they might be to historians and Dune fans alike, the Time magazine article does not serve as a complete announcement - no production schedule or release dates for Cleopatra are to be found. For now, we'll just have to be content with the desert epic that Villeneuve has already spent years crafting...

And try not to think about how we also really want Dune: Part 3.

Need more spice (heh) in your life? Popverse has all the Dune coverage you could want. From Dune: Part Two's ending explained, to details on the sequels and TV show prequels that are planned, to how to prep for the next film with a Dune watch order, to which Frank Herbert story Denis Villeneuve believes would make a great Dune: Part Three, and even which movies to watch after you've finished Dune.