Recapping the Dune saga so far ahead of Dune: Part Two's release in March

Our Sci-Fi Season screening of Dune this February is the perfect primer for Dune: Part Two. Return to Arrakis and bask in director Denis Villeneuve's extraordinary vision of a future riven with dynastic conflict and messianic potential.

Dune is the first instalment in Villeneuve's epic two-part Frank Herbert adaptation. The movie fills the screen with wondrous sights and sounds and is screening at Cineworld in both immersive IMAX and multi-sensory 4DX. Plus, it's accompanied by a 10-minute preview of the feverishly anticipated Dune: Part Two – who could ask for more?

Whether you've seen Dune once, twice or 10 times, the lore is complex, and you may need a refresher on the saga so far. Scroll down and bring yourself up to speed.

Introducing Arrakis

In the distant future, the desert planet Arrakis is the only known source of the valuable Spice Melange
The spice is mined on Arrakis and coveted by the Spacing Guild for its psychotropic abilities
Spice is key to interstellar travel, allowing Spacing Guild Navigators the ability to guide starships to traverse space instantaneously and safely
House Harkonnen is the current steward of Arrakis and is engaged in a bitter war with the indigenous Fremen over the spice reserves
Fremen warrior Chani (Zendaya) has borne witness to the Harkonnens' cruelty against her people

Introducing House Atreides

Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is heir presumptive to House Atreides, which is currently ruled by his father Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac)
Paul is haunted by visions and dreams of a mystery girl, subsequently revealed to be Chani
House Atreides occupies the temperate, watery climate of the planet Caladan
Paul's mother is Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a seer, Duke Leto's concubine and member of the secretive, all-female Bene Gesserit sect
House Atreides has been summoned by Emperor Shaddam IV of House Corrino (unseen in this movie) to take up stewardship of Arrakis
Duke Leto suspects a trap but must follow through with his duty

Introducing the Bene Gesserit and the 'kwisatz haderach'

The Bene Gesserit are ruled over by the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling), truth sayer to the Emperor
The Bene Gesserit has been engaging with a centuries-long breeding program to bring about the 'kwisatz haderach', a messianic superbeing with the power to unite the known universe
Mother Mohiam tests Paul's preternatural awareness via the gom jabbar test, in the process discovering that Paul is more than he seems
Mother Mohiam suspects that Paul is the 'kwisatz haderach' and is enraged with Lady Jessica for producing a male heir

Introducing House Harkonnen

House Harkonnen, home world Giedi Prime, is ruled over by the cruel and gluttonous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) who moves around via floating 'suspensors'
In league with the Emperor, who fears the influence of House Atreides, the Baron has made a deal to betray Duke Leto and his family once they arrive on Arrakis
The Baron plans to achieve this with the help of the Emperor's elite death squad known as the 'Sardaukar'
The Harkonnens will then resume their stewardship and spice harvesting with the Baron's brutish nephew Glossu 'Beast' Rabban (Dave Bautista) supervising the operation on the ground

Arrival on Arrakis, spice harvesting and the worms

Duke Leto, Paul, Lady Jessica and their entourage arrive on Arrakis and take up residency in the walled city of Arrakeen
They are introduced to scientist and Justice of the Peace Dr. Liet-Kynes (Sharon Duncan Brewster) who has extensive familiarity of Fremen rituals
The Fremen are distinguished by their vivid blue eyes, which come about from excessive spice ingestion
They also wear 'stillsuits' that replenish the body's water supply amid the deadly Arrakis heat
The Fremen have developed a special 'sand walk' that allows them to cross the desert without attracting the attention of the worms
Liet-Kynes introduces Leto to the practical realities of spice harvesting, including the rampaging Arrakis sandworms that grow to several hundred metres long
The worms are both feared and worshipped by the Fremen and referred to as 'Shai-Hulud' (translated as 'Old Man of the Desert')

House Harkonnen betrays House Atreides

Following a failed assassination attempt on Paul's life, House Atreides is betrayed from within by Dr Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen)
Baron Harkonnen has coerced Dr Yueh in exchange for his wife's life; however, Yueh slips a poison capsule to Duke Leto while he is incapacitated
When Baron Harkonnen later taunts Duke Leto, the latter bites into the capsule, killing the Baron's retinue and severely injuring his nemesis in the process
Paul's new weapons master Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin) leads the Atreides forces in an assault against the Harkonnens and the Sardaukar, and is presumed dead
Paul and Lady Jessica are flown into the desert where it is presumed that the brutal environment will kill them in a matter of hours
However, Paul demonstrates crude mastery of 'the voice', a Bene Gesserit ability to bend an individual to one's will, and both he and Lady Jessica escape

Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica and the Fremen

Paul and Lady Jessica reunite with House Atreides warrior, and Paul's former weapons master, Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa)
Duncan was part of the advance party to Arrakis and has been studying the Fremen carefully, including the location of their secretive 'sietchs' (hiding places located amid rocky outcrops away from the worms)
Duncan is later killed by the Sardaukar, forcing Paul and Lady Jessica to flee into a Coriolis storm; both he and his mother survive when Paul learns to subconsciously flow with the elements, causing them to successfully crash-land their ornithopter ('thopter') craft
After escaping the worms, Paul and Lady Jessica find their way to the sietch named Tabr of Fremen tribal leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) with whom Duke Leto had earlier tried to broker a truce
It's there that Paul discovers Chani is the woman he has been seeing in his dreams, and he senses that a 'way' is being laid out for him
In a trial of ritual combat, Paul defeats Fremen fighter Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) and he and his mother are accepted into Sietch Tabr)
Paul then vows to lead the Fremen against the Harkonnens, promising to realise his destiny as the 'mahdi' (chosen one) for whom the Fremen have been waiting