Jason Momoa says Dune ranks among the most fulfilling experiences of his career – a feeling shaped in no small part by extended time spent filming in Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert.
“It’s amazing,” he says, speaking from SushiSamba Dubai three months after wrapping Dune: Part Three in the UAE. “I was out here for a while. I think Dune is pretty high up there in my creative career.
“You get to be in the desert, and it’s pretty special out there. It’s a big honour. We’re getting up very early and very late. You get to see stuff most people don’t get to see. That’s one of the fun things about being in a movie like this. You get to go do some pretty wild stuff in places you probably wouldn’t otherwise.”
Dune: Part Two grossed more than $700 million worldwide and won multiple Academy Awards, cementing Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novels as one of the defining science-fiction franchises of the past decade.
Abu Dhabi’s role in the trilogy has steadily increased from film to film. The first instalment was shot primarily in Jordan, with select sequences filmed in the UAE. By Part Two, the Liwa Desert had become the principal stand-in for the fictional planet Arrakis, with an entire desert village constructed on location for the production. The third film has again returned to the UAE, with more details expected to emerge closer to its December release.
During the Part Three shoot, Momoa used downtime between takes to take his own photographs of Liwa’s dunes.
“My phone is pretty full – I got some pretty good shots,” he says. “It’s just fun to be up, and then we’d shoot the film, and be out there shooting. It’s pretty stunning what it’s like out there at dusk and dawn.”
That window of light has long been central to Villeneuve’s approach. The director has spoken about seeking a particular atmospheric haze during sunrise and sunset shoots – a quality that has become integral to the visual identity of Arrakis.
Part of what drew Momoa back, he says, was the experience of the first film. “To work with that cast – it’s arguably one of the best casts ever put together,” he says. “Josh Brolin, Oscar, all of them. That level of actors – I don’t get that opportunity much.”
The third film is expected to draw primarily from Dune Messiah, Herbert’s 1969 sequel, which follows Paul Atreides after his rise to power. Momoa reprises his role as Duncan Idaho, the Atreides swordmaster whose apparent death in the first film mirrored the events of the novel – though in Herbert’s books, Duncan’s return becomes one of the saga’s most enduring threads.
Momoa has previously hinted at that arc. “Well, I’m not sure if I’m going to get in trouble or not, but it’s the same thing like Game of Thrones, you know what I mean?” he said in 2025. “If you didn’t read the books, it’s not my fault, right?”
The actor shaved his beard for the first time in six years for his return to the role, saying in July: “Only for you Denis.”
Beyond filming, Momoa has developed a particular affinity for the UAE. “I’ve been coming here for the last 15 plus years,” he says. “This place is Disneyland for big kids – but then you go out into the dunes and everything slows down.”
He does have favourite spots. He simply won’t name them. “I don’t want to tell anybody where I go,” he says. “That’s the best part about coming to different places.”
He offers a clue instead – less about locations than his overall travel philosophy.
“I remember shooting Game of Thrones in Morocco and Malta, and I dealt with a driver who was a local. He said he’d love to have me over for dinner. I said, ‘Dude, I would love to have an authentic dinner.’ And so we went to his house and ate at their home. Experience the real place, you know what I mean?”
He shrugs. “Hotels are great, but I’d rather be out there jumping into life.”
Dune Part Three will be in UAE cinemas on December 18
