Decades before Timothée Chalamet walked through a sea of people to mark the Hand of God as his witness and claim he is the one, simultaneously putting the Dune franchise into the iconic category, the sand was shifting in David Lynch's Arrakis. Around 1983-84, Lynch, following his blockbuster The Elephant Man, was cooking up Frank Herbert's novels into possibly another hit, and according to Kenneth Branagh's recent accounts, all the stars were there to witness it.

While promoting his action-comedy Mayday with Ryan Reynolds, Branagh gave a peek into another one, where half of Hollywood had lined up to be the chosen one in David Lynch's Dune.

Tales of 'what ifs' when it comes to casting in Hollywood have always been a phenomenon that never ceases to amaze. However, few are as dramatic or star-studded as the one that Kenneth Branagh revealed. While speaking to PEOPLE, Branagh revealed how all the greatest in Hollywood wanted a claim to the Arrakis throne.

"I’m sitting, there’s a whole pile of chairs. We’re outside, and I’m sitting next to Gary Oldman who’s sitting next to Dan Day-Lewis, who’s sitting next to Colin Firth who’s sitting next to Tim Roth,”  Branagh told PEOPLE.

While David Lynch's Dune went on to accumulate $30.9 million against a $40–42 million budget, marking it a box-office failure, if the audition lineup that Branagh revealed to PEOPLE is anything to go by, the now A-listers of Hollywood saw much more in it than the audience. Regardless, with an Oscar winner in Daniel Day-Lewis, albeit not then, among the rejects, the defeat must not have been much of a sting to Branagh.

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On one hand, David Lynch's Dune, bustling with stars in the audition room, went on to be a dud. On the other hand, Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune, built on a single relatively unproven lead in Timothée Chalamet, became a critical and box-office triumph.

Following the release of Dune: Part One in 2021, which grossed $411 million on a $165 million budget, but more importantly won six Oscars, dominating the technical categories, the Dune franchise became a force to be reckoned with. This was also true for Timothée Chalamet, who had already proven himself a critics' favorite through Lady Bird and Call Me by Your Name, but went on to become a box-office star thanks to his role as Paul Atreides.

With Chalamet's 'chosen one' speech now iconic, it seems fate didn't just choose the character within Frank Herbert's world, it chose Chalamet to play him, and Denis Villeneuve to turn Dune into a franchise. Now, with Dune: Part Three set to close out Villeneuve's trilogy this December, the name is far from collecting dust, a long way from that row of folding chairs where Branagh, Day-Lewis, Oldman, Firth and Roth once waited their turn to become Paul Atreides.

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What do you think about Kenneth Branagh's Dune revelation? Let us know in the comments.