The modern Dune films were shot across Hungary, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, and Italy. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024) combine real desert and coastal landscapes with Budapest soundstages, constructed sets, digital extensions, and visual effects. Abu Dhabi supplied the sweeping sand dunes of Arrakis; Jordan provided its rugged rock formations; Stadlandet in Norway became the elemental coast of Caladan; and Italy’s Brion Tomb supplied the geometric architecture of the Imperial world.
Dune: Part Three, scheduled for release in December 2026, continues that international production strategy. Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert and Al Ain are publicly documented filming areas, while Budapest is listed as a production location. A complete official scene-by-scene location list for the third film has not yet been published.
The Dune filming locations at a glance
| Film | Confirmed or strongly documented locations | Fictional settings represented |
|---|---|---|
| Dune (2021) | Budapest and Origo Film Studios, Hungary; Wadi Rum, Jordan; Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Stadlandet, Norway | Arrakis, Caladan, and studio-built interiors across several planets |
| Dune: Part Two (2024) | Budapest and Origo Studios, Hungary; Wadi Rum and other Jordanian desert areas; Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi; Brion Tomb in San Vito, Altivole, Italy | Arrakis, Giedi Prime, Kaitain, and other Imperial or Harkonnen interiors |
| Dune: Part Three | Budapest and Origo Studios are publicly listed; Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert and Al Ain are documented by Abu Dhabi sources | The post-Part Two political and desert world, although the full location breakdown remains unpublished |
This article is about Denis Villeneuve’s current film series, not David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation, the 2000 television miniseries, or the unrelated Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
Dune (2021): where the first film was shot
Budapest, Hungary: Origo Film Studios and constructed worlds
Principal photography on Dune began at Origo Film Studios in Budapest on March 18, 2019. Budapest served as the production base for a substantial amount of the film’s interior and constructed-set work.
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That distinction matters. Saying that Dune was “filmed in Budapest” does not mean that the film is full of recognizable Budapest streets or landmarks. Much of the Budapest work took place on soundstages and backlots, where the production could build controlled environments, interiors, spacecraft areas, corridors, rooms, and other settings that would be difficult to capture in remote deserts.
The Budapest stages were also important because they allowed the filmmakers to combine practical set elements with visual-effects-supported environments. A location-based desert shot and a studio-built interior could be designed to match even when they were filmed thousands of miles apart.
For readers interested in the first film’s production photography, Dune Part One: The Photography is the most directly relevant companion book among the available behind-the-scenes options. The publisher describes it as a collection of production photography that includes imagery from the film’s major location shoots as well as its cast and sets.
Wadi Rum, Jordan: the rocky side of Arrakis
Jordan’s Wadi Rum supplied some of the most monumental exterior imagery in Dune. Its eroded mountains, red sand, cliffs, and broad valleys gave Arrakis a rugged, rock-framed character that is visually different from the smoother dune fields photographed in Abu Dhabi.
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Wadi Rum returned in Dune: Part Two, again representing portions of Arrakis and the Fremen environment. The Jordanian location is particularly useful for understanding the film’s visual division of the planet: where Abu Dhabi provides flowing horizons of sand, Wadi Rum provides geological scale and dramatic formations.
It would be inaccurate, however, to say that every desert scene was filmed in Wadi Rum. The finished images combine Jordanian location photography with Abu Dhabi dunes, studio work, digital extensions, and visual effects. Wadi Rum supplied major exterior landscape photography, especially the rocky side of Arrakis, rather than serving as the single location for the entire fictional planet.
Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi: the wide sand seas of Arrakis
The Liwa Desert, on the edge of the Rub’ al Khali, was the other major Arrakis landscape in the first film. The Abu Dhabi Film Commission identifies Dune among the productions filmed in Abu Dhabi and describes Liwa as the desert location used to create Arrakis.
Liwa’s high, flowing dunes produce the sweeping golden horizons that contrast with Wadi Rum’s rock formations. As a broad visual rule, smooth dune ridges and open sand horizons are more strongly associated with Abu Dhabi, while dramatic rock faces point more strongly toward Jordan. The boundary is not absolute because the production used compositing and post-production to join different environments into a single sequence.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Reports differ on the length of the first film’s Abu Dhabi shoot. One production account describes approximately 11 days, while later Abu Dhabi reporting describes a shorter five-day first-film shoot. The discrepancy may reflect different methods of counting principal desert photography, unit work, or the official production period. It is safer to identify Liwa as a major first-film location without presenting either figure as an uncontested total.
A Liwa Desert excursion or Abu Dhabi desert stay can help travelers experience the type of landscape used for Arrakis, but it should not be sold as access to a preserved Dune set. Permits, weather, conservation requirements, transport, and local guiding arrangements vary.
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Stadlandet, Norway: the coast of Caladan
The Norwegian Film Commission identifies Stadlandet on Norway’s west coast as a filming location for Dune. The production used Norwegian landscapes for their scale and elemental character, while the film’s coastal imagery is commonly associated with Caladan, the Atreides homeworld.
Stadlandet’s windswept coastline, cliffs, grey skies, and rough water provide a stark visual language for the Atreides home planet. It is an important counterpoint to Arrakis: instead of overwhelming heat and sand, Caladan is defined by cold air, water, storm light, and exposed rock.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteThe confirmed location is Stadlandet in Vestland, not simply an unspecified “Norwegian coast.” Exact viewpoints can be difficult to identify from the finished film, however. Some may be remote, weather-dependent, or altered through framing and visual effects. Fans planning a visit should think in terms of a broader Stadlandet coastal lodging or guided itinerary, rather than expecting a marked attraction at every camera position.
Dune: Part Two (2024): the sequel’s expanded location map
Budapest, Hungary: Origo Studios and large-scale interior work
Dune: Part Two again used Budapest as a core production base. Origo Studios states that a significant portion of the sequel was filmed and produced at its Budapest facilities during the 2022 production. Other production reporting identifies Origo Film Studios and the Hungexpo exhibition complex as major controlled environments used for the film.
The sequel’s huge visual scale can make every image look like it was captured in a remote real-world location. In practice, Budapest was essential for interiors and environments that would have been impractical or impossible to shoot in the desert. Practical sets, soundstages, controlled environments, visual effects, digital extensions, and location plates were combined to create the film’s palaces, rooms, vehicles, industrial spaces, and other settings.
Origo Studios is therefore best understood as a production base rather than a conventional tourist landmark. Visitors should not expect to walk through a permanent Dune palace or sietch preserved on the studio lot.
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Wadi Rum and other Jordanian locations: Fremen country
Jordan returned as a major landscape for the sequel. Wadi Rum’s rock formations and valleys again stood in for Arrakis, particularly landscapes associated with the Fremen and their movement through the deep desert.
Public location reporting also identifies the Al-Siq Gorge area near Wadi Araba as an additional Jordanian location associated with Part Two. That is useful specificity, but it should be treated as a reported location rather than evidence that the production has publicly disclosed the precise filming site for every scene.
For travelers, Wadi Rum is a real and established destination, but access to particular filming areas depends on local permissions, protected-area rules, weather, road conditions, and guiding arrangements. A Wadi Rum guided tour is the sensible category to investigate; a generic desert excursion should not automatically be assumed to visit a Dune camera position.
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Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi: nearly 20 desert locations and 27 shooting days
The sequel expanded the production’s use of Abu Dhabi. According to the Abu Dhabi Film Commission’s official making-of account, Dune: Part Two captured scenes at just under 20 locations across the Liwa Desert during the winter of 2022. The Abu Dhabi portion lasted 27 shooting days and involved approximately 300 local crew members, 250 international crew members, and 500 extras.
The production also built a village and other temporary infrastructure to support the desert shoot. That does not mean the Fremen settlement seen on screen is an untouched site that visitors can locate exactly as it appeared in the film. The visible result is a combination of constructed production design, desert location photography, camera framing, and post-production.
Liwa again represented Arrakis’s open sand sea, but its expanded role in the sequel helped the filmmakers create more varied desert geography than a single dune field could provide. Travelers searching for a Liwa Desert Dune filming location experience should check whether a current operator actually visits the relevant area and whether access is permitted. A Liwa Desert excursion or Abu Dhabi desert stay may provide the landscape without offering any official connection to the production.
The sequel’s location photography is also documented in Dune: Part Two: The Photography, a behind-the-scenes volume focused on the cast, sets, and locations used during the shoot. It is a better fit for readers who want production images than a standard film-tie-in novel or a general location guide.
Brion Tomb, San Vito, Altivole, Italy: Kaitain and the Imperial world
One of Part Two’s most distinctive real-world locations is the Brion Tomb, also called the Brion Memorial, in San Vito, a hamlet of Altivole in Italy’s Veneto region. Italy for Movies identifies the site as a filming location for Dune: Part Two.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDesigned by architect Carlo Scarpa, the Brion Tomb supplied geometric concrete forms, water, gardens, and carefully composed architectural spaces for scenes associated with Kaitain and Princess Irulan’s Imperial world. Reports identify scenes involving Princess Irulan and the Reverend Mother as having been filmed there.
The Brion Memorial is not a desert location. Its inclusion shows how the Dune films selected real architecture for its shape, atmosphere, and symbolic potential, then integrated it into the fictional universe through production design, costume, framing, and visual effects.
It is also important to distinguish the filmed site from architectural inspiration. Discussion of Scarpa’s influence on the production design can refer to visual inspiration or reference material; the Brion Tomb itself was an actual filmed location for Part Two. That does not mean every Kaitain scene was shot there.
The Brion Tomb is a cultural and architectural site, not a permanent film set. Anyone planning Brion Tomb and Veneto cultural travel should check current visitor information, opening arrangements, access restrictions, and local guidance before making the journey.
Which location represents which part of the Dune universe?
| Real-world location | What it contributes to the films | Most useful visual clue |
|---|---|---|
| Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi | Major Arrakis exterior photography in both released films | High, smooth, flowing golden dunes and broad sand horizons |
| Wadi Rum, Jordan | Major Arrakis exterior photography, especially rugged Fremen and deep-desert landscapes | Rock towers, eroded mountains, red sand, and broad rocky valleys |
| Stadlandet, Norway | Coastal imagery associated with Caladan in Dune (2021) | Grey skies, rough water, cliffs, and windswept coast |
| Brion Tomb, Altivole, Italy | Imperial and Kaitain-related architectural imagery in Part Two | Geometric concrete, water, gardens, and Carlo Scarpa’s distinctive design |
| Origo Studios and other Budapest facilities | Interior, constructed-set, controlled-environment, and visual-effects-supported work across the films | Highly designed spaces rather than recognizable city landmarks |
This table is a visual guide, not a complete shot-by-shot attribution system. The films frequently combine location plates, practical sets, digital extensions, and computer-generated imagery, so a single finished frame may contain material from more than one place.
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What was not filmed entirely on location?
The naturalistic look of the films can obscure how much was created on stages and in constructed environments. Origo Studios was central to both productions, and the filmmakers used practical sets, controlled interiors, visual-effects work, digital extensions, and location photography together.
A desert vista may combine actors standing beside practical set elements with location plates photographed in Jordan or Abu Dhabi and computer-generated extensions added later. Likewise, a fictional city, palace, sietch, spacecraft interior, or Harkonnen facility should not be treated as a single real place that can be visited.
This is why claims such as “the Fremen village is in Liwa” or “the entire Imperial palace is in Italy” are too simple. Real locations supplied the visual foundation, but production design and post-production completed the fictional environments.
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Dune: Part Three: what is known about its filming locations?
Dune: Part Three is scheduled for release in December 2026, so its location record is not yet as transparent as those of the two released films. The most defensible summary available as of August 12, 2026 is that Abu Dhabi and Budapest are publicly connected to the production, while the full country list and scene assignments remain unpublished.
Abu Dhabi: Liwa Desert and Al Ain
Abu Dhabi’s Creative Media Authority and Abu Dhabi Film Commission have released behind-the-scenes material confirming the return of the Liwa Desert as Arrakis for Part Three. Abu Dhabi reporting also identifies filming across Liwa and Al Ain and describes approximately 31 days of shooting in Abu Dhabi.
The Liwa and Al Ain material supports the conclusion that the third film continues the series’ use of Abu Dhabi for large-scale desert imagery. It does not, by itself, establish which individual scenes were filmed at which dune, valley, or settlement.
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Budapest is listed as a production location in available film-location records. Origo Studios was the established production base for the first two films, making its continued association with the franchise plausible and publicly reported, but the production has not released a complete breakdown of every set or scene filmed there.
Until Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, a relevant film commission, or official production publicity publishes more information, no article should present an exhaustive Part Three location list as settled fact. The current confirmed-or-strongly-documented picture is Liwa, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, and Budapest, with further details still pending.
Can you visit the Dune filming locations?
Yes, several of the landscapes are real travel destinations, but visiting a region is not the same as gaining access to a filming set or an exact camera position.
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- For recognizable Arrakis dunes: Start with the Liwa Desert in Abu Dhabi. Tour availability, permits, transport, weather, and conservation rules can change.
- For rocky Arrakis landscapes: Visit Wadi Rum in Jordan through an established local guide or operator. Do not assume that a standard tour follows the film’s route.
- For Imperial and Kaitain architecture: Investigate the Brion Tomb in San Vito, Altivole, while checking current visitor information. It is a functioning cultural site, not a film attraction with the production’s sets intact.
- For Caladan’s coast: Explore the Stadlandet region in Norway. Exact viewpoints may be remote, exposed, weather-dependent, or difficult to match to the finished film.
- For the production-base experience: Treat Origo Studios in Budapest as a working studio facility, not a guaranteed landmark tour.
None of these destinations should be represented as having permanent Dune sets unless an operator or the relevant site authority explicitly confirms that. Production infrastructure may have been dismantled, and access to desert or architectural locations can be restricted for environmental, cultural, safety, or operational reasons.
Why the films used so many countries
Each location contributed a different physical quality that would have been difficult to reproduce convincingly with one landscape. Liwa offered the scale and smoothness of the sand sea. Wadi Rum supplied geological drama. Stadlandet gave Caladan a cold, oceanic identity. The Brion Tomb provided architecture with an immediately recognizable geometry and sense of ritual. Budapest offered the controlled space needed to construct the interiors and connect all those environments.
The result is a fictional universe assembled from deliberately contrasting real places. Dune was not made in one desert, and it was not made entirely on location. Its world is the product of international location photography, large practical sets, studio control, and digital finishing working as one visual system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was all of Dune filmed in the desert?
No. The films used major desert locations in Jordan and Abu Dhabi, but substantial interior and constructed-set work took place at Origo Studios and other controlled facilities in Budapest. Digital extensions, visual effects, and practical sets were combined with the location footage.
Which Dune location has the most recognizable dunes?
The Liwa Desert in Abu Dhabi is the strongest match for the films’ broad, flowing golden dune horizons. Wadi Rum in Jordan is more recognizable for rocky formations, eroded mountains, and red-sand valleys.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIs there a complete filming-location list for Dune: Part Three?
Not yet. As of August 12, 2026, Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert and Al Ain are publicly documented, and Budapest is listed as a production location. The complete list of countries and scene assignments has not been officially published.
Can visitors tour the actual Dune sets?
Usually not. Wadi Rum, Liwa, Stadlandet, and the Brion Tomb are real destinations, but the film sets and temporary production infrastructure may have been removed. Access depends on local authorities, permits, conservation rules, site policies, and tour operators.
The Bottom Line
The modern Dune films divide their visual identity among several real environments: Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert for the open sand sea, Jordan’s Wadi Rum for rugged Arrakis, Norway’s Stadlandet for Caladan’s coast, Italy’s Brion Tomb for the Imperial setting, and Budapest’s studios for the constructed worlds and interiors. Dune: Part Three continues that international strategy, with Abu Dhabi and Budapest publicly connected to the production while its complete location list remains pending.
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