A new batch of AI-generated images imagine what Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise would look like as an anime, and the sandworms are way creepier.

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune Part Two

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise becomes an epic anime adventure in a new AI images. Adapting the events of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel of the same name, 2021’s Dune marks the second live-action of the author’s work after David Lynch’s 1984 film. Villeneuve’s initial take on the source material, which introduces Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, was a success, and the positive Dune: Part Two reception has now cemented the franchise as a major hit.

As audiences await news on the in-development Dune: Part Three, AI-generated art shared by Unearthly Hub on Instagram imagines what Villeneuve’s franchise would look like if it made the jump from live-action to anime. Check out the art below:

The art features anime reimaginings of Paul, Stilgar, Lady Jessica, Leto Atreides, Baron Harkonnen, Feyd-Rautha, and Princess Irulan. One image also presents a new take on the franchise’s iconic sandworms, and the creatures somehow look even more formidable than they do in the films.

Would Dune Work As An Anime?

Why Denis Villeneuve’s Franchise Could Make The Jump To Animation

Timothée Chalamet as Paul looking happy to see Gurney in Dune Part Two Paul Atreides riding a sandworm in Dune Part Two Paul Atreides walking with the sun in the background on planet Arrakis in Dune Part Two
Sandworm attacking Harkonnen soldiers in Dune 2 Chani, played by Zendaya, stares angrily at Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two. She is surrounded by other Fremen fighters, and she has a look of betrayal. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen emerging from mud in Dune (2021).

So far, major efforts to adapt Herbert’s source material have told the story in live-action, but there’s certainly reason to believe a Dune anime would work. Firstly, there’s nothing about the story that makes it especially suited to live-action. In fact, many elements of the story and the Dune cast of characters actually make the property well-suited to the animated medium.

Baron Harkonnen, for example, played in Villeneuve’s films by Stellan Skarsgård, is a truly massive and hulking figure. It’s not hard to imagine such a villain, who floats ominously in the air with suspensors due to his immense weight, as an over-the-top anime villain. The Sardaukar, too, feature unique sci-fi suits and weapons that would make them interesting enemies in animation from a visual standpoint. Even though Paul’s physical appearance in Dune isn’t as bold as the Baron’s, his arc and presentation as a messiah figure for the Fremen also feels like it would translate well.

The world of Arrakis and the general production design of Villeneuve’s movies would also make for an interesting setting for an anime. The appearance of spice harvesters, the Arakeen architecture, ornithopters, and the formidable sandworms, among other things, are all bold designs that would feel right at home in a stylized anime adventure. It remains to be seen whether Villeneuve’s Dune will ever become an anime, but the art above certainly suggests it could work.