So, we have our Lady Jessica.

This little piece of news about Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune project with Legendary Pictures snuck in under my radar. I don’t know exactly when it was announced. I just saw it on iMDB.

My first reaction was: I know that name but I’m not sure where from. When I looked her up, I found that she’s actually been in a few things that I’ve seen.  Most notably Girl on a Train, Life and a couple of Mission: Impossible films.  She has been cast alongside Timothee Chalamet as his mother, the Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica. That’s the role that I had Tilda Swinton pegged for but I never expected to get any of my predictions right.  Here are some details…

Rebecca Ferguson was born in Stockholm in 1983. She has a Swedish father and an English mother and was raised bilingual. One of her first acting roles was in a Swedish soap opera called Nya tider at the age of 16. I never saw her in The White Queen on BBC but that role earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. I thought she was great in Life too, especially in the final act.

She has a definite grace about her and a stately presence that, I think, makes her well suited to the role. As a bonus, she has the hair of a Harkonnen. Her action movie back catalogue and training as a dancer should be great preparation for what will probably be a physically punishing shoot (she’ll have to overpower whoever they get to play Stilgar) and she does remind me in some ways of Francesca Annis who played Jessica in David Lynch’s film.

So, overall I have to say I’m quite excited about this bit of news. I think she’ll make a fine Lady Jessica. According to all the sources, she’s ‘in talks’ at present so nothing is confirmed but I’m guessing it will be a done deal pretty soon. I still think Tom Hiddleston would make a good Duke Leto based on the two cast members already announced.

You won’t have long to wait before you see her in another blockbuster film. She’s starring alongside Sir Patrick Stewart as Morgana in Joe Cornish’s Arthurian adventure, The Kid Who Would Be King, which is coming out early in the new year.

Thanks for reading

More news and reactions as I get it. Hopefully a bit earlier than I picked this one up!

Richard