“Both Denis and I felt very strongly about the presence of female voices,” Zimmer says. “I think the underlying game Frank Herbert plays with us is that what drives the story forward is really the women. They’re in charge, the Bene Gesserit. It’s always a woman who seems to have the true strength in these stories.”

As fans start to anticipate what to expect from that next cinematic Dune installment, the best way to predict that future is to look at the fascinating layers in the movie that’s out now. Although longtime spice heads have probably spotted most of the visual Easter eggs in Dune: Part One, there’s a very real chance the auditory Easter eggs may be cleverly hidden. 

In the track “Stillsuits” — when Paul and Lady Jessica begin their dangerous crossing through the desert — there seems to be a slight nod to the other famous Dune score, composed by Toto and Brian Eno for the 1984 David Lynch film. Zimmer says “I’ve never seen David Lynch’s film,” and also asserts he’s never seen any version of Dune, other than the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune. Because that failed 1970s version of Dune was planned to feature music from Pink Floyd, Zimmer incorporated a cover version of the song “Eclipse” into the first trailer for the film. Zimmer says he talked “on the phone with Roger Waters,” who advised him on how to get all the nuances of that song just right. 

But that’s not all. Zimmer says there are even deeper cuts.

“When I was writing the end titles, I realized there was a bassline that I’d heard before,” Zimmer reveals. “And I suddenly remembered that Klaus Schulze wrote a song called ‘Frank Herbert.’ I basically lifted the bassline from that. So, I phoned Klaus and asked him ‘could we make this a co-composition. But he was quite thrilled that something he wrote so many years ago still echoed into this century.” 

So, with more Dune on the way, will we see or hear those Gurney songs, even though they’re not on the soundtrack? Zimmer makes it clear that what you don’t hear is as much a part of the world of Dune as what you do hear.

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