James McAvoy Ran Naked On the Dune Miniseries Set

Get ready for an onslaught of “Dune” material now that Hollywood has recognized there’s quite an audience for author Frank Herbert’s revered sci-fi saga. Not only do we have the upcoming MAX series “Dune: Prophecy,” but we’ll also see the return of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides in a third movie from sci-fi maestro Denis Villeneuve.

After “Dune: Part Two” proved massively popular at a time when the box office was dwindling, Legendary Pictures decided to keep the spice flowing with a third “Dune” movie. The next installment in Villeneuve’s epic saga might be an adaptation of the second novel in Herbert’s original run, with Villeneuve previously revealing his eagerness to adapt “Dune Messiah.” He has proven Herbert’s supposedly “unfilmable” novels could indeed be turned into compelling and popular movies. However, Villeneuve wouldn’t be the first to adapt “Messiah.”

Back in 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel produced a three-episode TV series that combined Herbert’s novels “Dune Messiah” (1969) and “Children of Dune” (1976) into one ambitious mini-series. “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune” may not have been a technical marvel like Villeneuve’s films, but it wasn’t without its charms, focusing on political intrigue. Oh, and it featured quite a bit of a naked James McAvoy.

In 2000, the Sci-Fi Channel had a go at adapting “Dune” with “Frank Herbert’s Dune.” It wasn’t the finest version of the books you’ll ever see, but it was the most faithful adaptation, packed with every detail from the novels. Compared to David Lynch’s 1984 attempt and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s famously failed project, “Frank Herbert’s Dune” held up quite well. In 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel tried again with “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune,” and it wasn’t bad either.

Written by John Harrison and directed by Greg Yaitanes, the series served as a direct sequel to “Frank Herbert’s Dune” and managed to be a big hit, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. Alec Newman played Paul Atreides, and the show also introduced the Muad’Dib’s two children, Leto II (James McAvoy) and Ghanima (Jessica Brooks).

Long before McAvoy gained fame with roles in “The Chronicles of Narnia” or “Atonement,” he played the son of Paul Atreides. At the time, the actor was just 23, but delivered a brilliant performance as Leto II. Curiously, though, he seemed a bit too eager to strip off abruptly.

These days, James McAvoy is offering stoic advice to Timothée Chalamet on how to play Paul Atreides. But back in the day, he was more inclined to get naked at a moment’s notice. In a SciFi.com interview around the time “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune” debuted, McAvoy revealed that he once stripped off during filming for no apparent reason. This sort of impromptu nudity might not be acceptable on set in 2024, but things were different in 2003.

According to McAvoy, he had already “appeared in this film naked many times” before deciding to do an impromptu strip. He recalled:

“We were running through the desert, we’d done it like 17 times, and the second unit director said, ‘Do you want another one? Just try something different, do anything you like. We don’t really need it, but in case you have anything else left in there that you wanted to get out.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a lot in me I need to get out.’ So I went around the back and got naked and decided to do the run completely naked, and then do a somersault at the end.”

What did being naked have to do with anything? Nothing, it seems — aside from perhaps embracing the fact that McAvoy had several other scenes where he had to shed his clothes. Midway through the run, he began to have second thoughts, saying, “I’m thinking, ‘What a good idea!’ … ‘No it’s not!'”