Dune Part 2 is reportedly close to adding MCU star Florence Pugh to its all-star cast.

According to multiple outlets, including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Pugh is on the cusp of joining the sequel to Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic. If Pugh signs onto the follow-up to Dune , she's expected to portray Princess Irulan Corrino, the eldest daughter of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV and another love interest of Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides.

Interestingly, Dune Part 2 will see Chalamet and Pugh reunite on screen for the first time since 2019's Little Women remake. The pair played Theodore Laurence and Amy March, respectively, in Greta Gerwig's celebrated period drama – a far cry from the sci-fi nature of Dune and its in-development sequel.

Dune Part 2 is expected to start shooting in summer 2022 ahead of a possible October 2023 release. However, as THR reports, Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine could scupper those plans. Large segments of Dune were filmed in Hungary and, given it borders Ukraine, the ongoing war potentially presents a sizeable shooting schedule dilemma.

Should Pugh join Dune Part 2's ranks, it'll be the second big film franchise she'll have appeared in since 2020. The British actor became an overnight Marvel movie star in 2020's Black Widow , with Pugh delivering a stand-out performance as Yelena Belova, Natasha Romanoff's younger sister. Pugh recently reprised that role in Hawkeye on Disney Plus and, while she's expected to return in other Marvel Phase 4 projects, it's unclear where we'll see Belova turn up next.

As for Dune, Villeneuve's latest flick was a major hit among fans and critics alike. The sci-fi movie earned over $400 million at the global box office – a solid haul, given that the film simultaneously launched in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22.

Dune will also look to add to its sizeable 34 award haul later this month. Villeneuve's visionary film is up for another eye-watering 129 prizes on the 2022 awards circuit, including 10 Critics Choice Awards, 10 Academy Awards , and 11 BAFTAs . The movie returns to HBO Max on Thursday, March 10 for a limited time, too, as part of its award season push.

For more Dune-based content, check out our chat with Villeneuve about the film's development. Alternatively, read our in-depth feature with Dune's behind-the-scenes crew to find out more about bringing the world of Arrakis to life .

Analysis: Pugh's casting could lead to more Dune spin-offs

Spoilers follow for the ending to Frank Herbert's Dune novel.

Pugh's likely casting as Princess Irulan offers an intriguing insight into the future of Warner Bros' live-action movie series.

Dune: The Sisterhood, an HBO Max prequel show that focuses on the Bene Gesserit, is still thought to be in the works. But, the potential addition of Pugh's Princess Irulan to Dune Part 2 also sets up the prospect of a third Dune movie.

In Frank Herbert's seminal novel, Princess Irulan only has a bit-part role to play in proceedings. When Emperor Shaddam cedes the galactic throne to Paul Atreides, Shaddam also promises Princess Irulan's hand in marriage to Paul. Princess Irulan has a more prominent role in Dune Messiah – Herbert's follow-up to Dune.

It would a strange move to cast Pugh as Princess Irulan in Dune Part 2 if the character has as small a role as her book-based counterpart. It would make more sense, then, if Pugh was hired with one eye on the future – i a third Dune movie.

Villeneuve has gone on record (per Entertainment Weekly ) to say he wants to make three Dune films, so this looks like an likely outcome. Of course, a third film will depend on audience demand for one. But, given how well Dune was received, and the hype surrounding Dune Part 2, we'd be surprised if Warner Bros. called it a day after two films.

Elden Ring publisher wants to collaborate with The Wheel of Time author

Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, best known for creating the Mistborn novels and penning the final books in The Wheel of Time series, has been contacted by Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco about collaborating on a future project.

During a livestream on his personal YouTube channel , the author was given a promotional Elden Ring goodie bag containing a prop sword, cloak, map of the Lands Between, and a woodcut image of Elden Ring boss Malenia. It also contained a letter that suggested Bandai Namco would be interested in working with Sanderson in the future (thanks, PC Gamer ).

Sanderson didn’t read out the letter in full, but said: “They are interested in perhaps doing something together, is what that says – which I am as well.”

“This is how I roll,” he continued. “I actually have a pitch for them in the back of my head... so I may have to send them my pitch and see what they think.”

Sanderson compared this preliminary idea with the pitch he sent to Wizards of the Coast that eventually turned into his 2018 Magic: The Gathering novella, Children of the Nameless.

“If I were ever going to do a soulsborne game, what would I do? You guys know what happened when I thought, ‘I wonder what I would do if I ever wrote a Magic: The Gathering story?’”

“I spent four years developing a Magic: The Gathering story, so when Magic contacted me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to write a story’, I’m like, ‘Yes, I already have one and I will write it’.

“In the same way, I’ve been thinking, ‘What would I do if I did a soulsborne sort of game?’ Obviously, I don’t get to decide that, but I just have it in the back of my head. So maybe you guys will hear something from me. I have some ideas; I always have ideas.”

Sanderson has previously said he's keen to work with Elden Ring developer FromSoftware , even expressing his dismay that the studio chose to collaborate with George R. R. Martin on the game, rather than him.

Speaking on a Q&A panel earlier this year, he said: “Let me be salty. “FromSoftware decides to make a fantasy game and partner with a fantasy novelist, and they choose someone who spends his days blogging about the NFL rather than the person who has played their games since King’s Field and has listed their games as among his top 10 consistently over time.”

“What are you thinking, people?”

“They went to George and made a game with George, and I’m like, George doesn’t play video games. George has no idea.”

During this latest video, a co-host asked Sanderson if the Bandai Namco goodie bag also contained a note apologizing for hiring Martin to work on Elden Ring. Sanderson responded that the publisher “should have hired George”, suggesting there's no bad blood between them.

Of course, a collaboration between Sanderson and Bandai Namco isn’t certain, and mutual interest doesn’t guarantee the two will ever find an opportunity to work together. If they did, it’s not certain that Bandai Namco would want Sanderson to contribute to a video game. It might rather commission Sanderson to pen an Elden Ring book, comic, or other extended material, following in the footsteps of the Bloodborne graphic novels and Dark Souls lore books.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: Apple's Goldilocks tablet line is punching way above its weight

Apple's Peek Performance event is in the rear-view, and in among the announcements sits the iPad Air 2022 . It might look a lot like the iPad Air 4 , but there are some notable improvements here.

We won't know how pronounced those improvements are, and where it will sit in our best tablets list, until we've had a chance to review the iPad Air 2022, but purely based on what we know of its specifications, we have a pretty good idea of how the two compare.

So how do Apple's two latest mid-range to tablets stack up to one another? Let's take a closer look at those facts and figures.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: price and availability

The iPad Air 2022 ships on March 18, with prices starting from $599 / £569 / AU$929 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model. This moves up to $749 / £719 / AU$1,159 for the 256GB unit.

There's also a 5G cellular option that costs $749 / £719 / AU$1,159 for 64GB and $899 / £869 / AU$1,389 for 256GB.

The iPad Air 4 shipped on October 23, 2020, with Wi-Fi only prices starting at $599 / £579 / AU$899 for the 64GB model, and 256GB: $749 / £729 / AU$1,129 for the 256GB variant.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: design

The iPad Air 2022 sports much the same design as the iPad Air 4. That is to say, it still resembles an iPad Pro, which was one of the big additions to the previous generation.

It's got the same flat edges, a USB-C port instead of Lightning, minimal bezels all around, and an edge-to-edge display. Like last year's model, you still get a Touch ID scanner stashed behind a button to the side of the tablet, and not the Face ID system of the Pro.

The iPad Air 2022 comes in Space Gray, Starlight, Pink, Purple, and Blue. The iPad Air 4 came in Space Gray, Silver, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue.

At 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1mm, the newer tablet is identically proportioned to the iPad Air 4. At 461g, however, it's fractionally (3g) heavier.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: display

Apple has kept exactly the same display for the new iPad Air 2022. That works out to a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina LCD with a 2360 x 1640 resolution and a 500 nit peak brightness.

The new tablet again fails to gain the iPad Pro's ProMotion display, which would have bumped the refresh rate up from 60Hz to 120Hz. That's not surprising, however, as Apple still sees this as a 'Pro' feature.

We said about the iPad Air 4 display that it was "a great size and fantastic quality, and you'll be happy with it whatever you use this slate for".

We suspect that the same will be true of the iPad Air 2022, though perhaps a little less so given the 17 month gap that separate the launches of these two slates.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: camera

Again, the iPad Air 2022's 12MP rear camera appears to be much the same as the iPad Air 4's.

That said, the new iPad Air does benefit from a much more advanced M1 processor (more of which in a moment), which will bring with it more advanced image processing. Apple is a dab hand at such algorithmic advances, so don't hold that apparent lack of hardware improvements against it.

Apple specifically mentions that Smart HDR has been added thanks to this M1 power, so we're expecting tangible improvements. Not that a tablet's rear camera matters all that much.

The real and more important difference here lies with the 12MP front-facing camera, which is up from 7MP in the iPad Air 4. More significantly, this camera gains an ultra-wide perspective and Center Stage support.

The latter feature, which is present across the rest of the iPad range, will pan and zoom automatically (within reason) to track its subjects.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: specs and performance

As we've just referenced, the big step up with the iPad Air 2022 relates to performance. It gains the M1 chip that powers the latest iPad Pro, not to mention Apple's current MacBook and iMac lines.

Apple's M1 chip provides a 60% CPU boost over the A14 Bionic of the iPad Air 4, alongside a 2x GPU performance boost. A 16-core Neural Engine should enable the iPad Air to perform laptop-level tasks, such as speedy advanced image editing in Adobe Lightroom.

Another advantage for the new iPad Air is that its cellular model features 5G connectivity. The iPad Air 4 could only supply 4G connectivity.

One final spec advantage for the iPad Air 2022 is quite easy to overlook, but its USB-C port is capable of double the transfer speed of the iPad Air 4 equivalent.

Both iPads come with second-generation Apple Pencil support, so there's no clear winner when it comes to artistic potential.

iPad Air 2022 vs iPad Air 4: battery

The new iPad Air has a 28.93 Wh battery, which equates to 7606 mAh. That's exactly the same size as the iPad Air 4 cell.

We don't have a problem with that, as the iPad Air 4 could keep going for around 10 hours before we had to to reach for the charger. Our reviewer described it as "very good", and claimed that "most users should be perfectly happy" with it.

We're hoping for some gains on that figure thanks to the more efficient M1 processor, but we're not expecting a drastic increase.

The iPad Air 2022 supports up to 20W wired charging, compared to 18W for the iPad Air 4.

Takeaway

Apple has made fairly incremental improvements for the iPad Air 2022, except for one major area.

In bringing its M1 chip to its mid-range tablet line, it's offering serious power for the money. We're talking about high-end laptop levels of power for around the $600 mark, which is quite startling when you think about it.

Given that the iPad Air 4 had already dragged the design of the Air line forward to the current Pro era, we're not too bothered about the superficial similarities of these two tablets.

It would have been nice to see some display improvements, but there we guess there has to be some perks for those willing to pay the Pro premium.

While it doesn't appear likely to offer a worthwhile upgrade for most iPad Air 4 owners, then, the new iPad Air looks set to maintain Apple's untouchable status at the middle point of the tablet market.