Where was Dune 2 filmed? Shooting locations revealed

Here are the settings behind the desert planet of Arrakis in the sci-fi sequel

Visit Jordan’s Wadi Rum for a slice of the silver screen (AP)

Dune: Part Two, the anticipated second instalment of the sci-fi series, was released last week after a three-year wait. The world of Arrakis revisited on the big screen did not disappoint.

Director Denis Villeneuve’s Dune 2’, based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, welcomes back characters Paul Atreides, Chani and the Fremen, with Paul “seek[ing] revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family” and fighting to regain their home planet.

The epic odyssey features a star-studded cast including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson and Josh Brolin revisiting familiar desert-scapes from the 2021 film.

New faces in the fold for the sequel include Austin Butler, Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh, as well as fresh Italian backdrops. It’s expected the desert settings will expand even further for the unconfirmed Dune 3.

Here’s where to go to visit the real-life locations behind the sand-swept sets.

Where was Dune 2 filmed?

Budapest, Hungary

Sequences were filmed in the Origo Film Studios’ backlot in Budapest (© 2022 Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Many of the explosive battles and action sequences in Dune and Dune: Part Two were filmed in Budapest’s Origo Studios’ backlot.

Other notable movies staged on the Hungarian set include Poor Things, Blade Runner and Inferno.

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Unesco-hotspot Wadi Rum doubles as the red sands of Arrakis (Getty Images)

The red sand landscapes, harsh, arid climate and otherworldly terrain of Wadi Rum in southern Jordan transport viewers to the Fremen sietches (villages) and homeland.

In a promotional behind-the-scenes video, Villeneuve said: “Dune is about the relationship of human with nature.

“It was important for me to bring that nature to the screen so that the audience will believe that, and feel that there’s something that feels real, feels tactile.”

Liwa Oasis, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Paul ‘sandwalks’ the dunes of the Arabian desert (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Filming headed back to the Liwa Oasis in Abu Dhabi for the rock shelters and sandworm-infested exteriors of Arrakis.

Tanya Lapointe, a producer on Dune, said that they went “even deeper” into the desert than the first film, with an established “network of 18 miles of road leading to different filming locations”.

Variety reported that the team spent a month in the Arabian desert’s rolling dunes – some 300m high – with the cast holed up in the luxury Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort.

Altivole, Treviso, Italy

Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan in ‘Dune: Part Two' (Warner Bros)

A new filming location to the Dune franchise, the Italian municipality of Altivole plays host to the extravagant home of Princess Irulan and the Corrino house. A world away from the Fremen’s barren wasteland, the Italian architecture sets this faction apart in shades of grey.

Memoriale Brion, Altivole, Treviso, Italy

Carlo Scarpa’s modernist tomb was used for exterior shots of the Corrino household (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in Treviso, the Memoriale Brion’s contemporary design stood for the exterior of the Corrino home. The tomb in Altivole is a monumental burial ground for the Brion family.

Carlo Scarpa’s 1968 design was restored in 2021 – the complex of modernist architecture featuring concrete buildings, zen gardens and water fountains.

‘Dune: Part Two’ is in cinemas now.