Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune movie has released its first official image (courtesy of Vanity Fair), providing us with our first glimpse of protagonist Paul Atreides.

The image depicts Paul, played by Timothée Chalamet, on his home planet of Caladan. Behind him are transport ships, which are landing on the oceanic world to ferry his family to the desert planet Arrakis.

“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,”Chalamet told Vanity Fair. “He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”

Based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, the story will see Paul’s father, Duke Leto, being sent to the planet to manage the mining of its melange, a spice with unique properties. However, things aren’t as straightforward due to politics, and Paul later allies himself with Arrakis’ native Freman people to battle the antagonistic House Harkonnen.

Leto and his wife Jessica are played by Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson respectively. Freman leader Stilgar is played by Javier Bardem, and Zendaya plays Paul’s Freman love interest Chani.

The star-studded cast also includes Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa as House Atreides loyalists Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho respectively. Meanwhile, Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd plays the role of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, while Dave Bautista plays Vladimir’s nephew Glossu “Beast” Rabban.

Dune remains set to release on 18 December, though whether that will eventually change because of the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be seen. Villeneuve’s last film was 2017’s Blade Runner 2049, which earned a score of 85 from our resident movie buff Alleef. He previously directed Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival.