With Denis Villeneuve's new sci-fi epic, Dune, due out in December, today we get our first look at protagonist Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet. The image comes courtesy of Vanity Fair, who has also provided complementary information on the highly anticipated film.

The picture shows Chalamet's Paul Atreides on his native planet of Caladan. In the movie, Atreides is forced to leave his home for a dangerous planet known as Arrakis, where his family is leading the extraction of a vital spice.

“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” Chalamet said.

Upon relocating to Arrakis, the wealthy Atreides family finds themselves at odds with a new rival in House Harkonnen. House Harkonnen aims to exploit the planet that the Atreides are attempting to protect.

“He [Paul Atreides] thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.” Chalamet added.

Paul will be learning the ways of war under the tutelage of veteran soldier Gurney Halleck, played by Josh Brolin.

Joining Chalamet and Brolin in Dune are Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson, who play Paul's parents, Duke Leto and Lady Jessica Atreides, and Javier Bardem, who portrays Stilgar, the leader of a tribe of indigenous humans known as Fremen.

Dune is based on Frank Herbert's 1965 novel of the same name. Directed by Denis Villeneuve of Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, the sci-fi film is slated to release December 18.

For more on Dune, visit Vanity Fair.