'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' Trailer: Luc Besson's New Trip Through the Universe

Comic book movie fans, take note: Now that you’ve experienced Doctor Strange’s multiverse, get ready to take a trip to the intergalactic city of Alpha. Next summer, Luc Besson travels back to the future for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the French director’s first out-of-this-world science fiction epic since 1997’s The Fifth Element. Fans of that earlier film will instantly recognize Besson’s signature visual touches on display in the new Valerian trailer, which hit the Internet today (watch it above).

Based on the exploits of a ’60s French comic book hero — the Gallic answer to Flash Gordon — Valerian stars former Green Goblin Dane DeHaan as the titular intergalactic operative, tasked with protecting brave new worlds alongside his partner and would-be lover Laureline, played by Suicide Squad star, Cara Delevingne. Their latest mission brings them to Alpha, a melting pot of an alien world that’s being undermined by an insidious threat.

The clip also provides a quick glimpse of Rihanna as a Cabaret-style performer. Entertainment Weekly has a deeper first look of the singer in the movie. She apparently inhabits “several personas” throughout the film. “Rihanna was my first wish,” Besson told EW. “First, because of her voice and the way she smiles and looks and how she expresses herself. Second, because you know she won’t be intimidated on the set. She plays stadiums with 100,000 people.”

The exact nature of the threat that Valerian and Laureline face goes unmentioned in this new two-minute trailer, but we do get to marvel at the strange and exotic sights and creatures that Besson and his filmmaking team have dreamed up. Consider this among the thousand reasons we’re looking forward to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.