Dune and Dune: Part Two are widely considered among the best sci-fi movies ever, and while the former faced many challenges courtesy of COVID (including a day-and-date release on what was then HBO Max), both were successful enough to warrant a threequel.
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve will return to helm Dune: Messiah, a movie he tells Deadline (via SFFGazette.com) "will finish the Paul Atreides arc." However, despite the fact author Frank Herbert wrote an additional four sequels after that one, this third instalment will be it for Villeneuve and Dune.
Explaining that he views the first two movies as "one entity," he the directed elaborated by saying those are "a movie made in two parts. It's finished, it's done."
As for why he came back for a third chapter, Villeneuve added, "Like Herbert did with Dune: Messiah, I think it’ll be a great idea to do something completely different. The story takes place like 12 years after where we left the characters at the end of Part Two."
"Their journey, their story is different this time, and that’s why I always say that while it’s the same world it’s a new film with new circumstances."
He also tells the trade that he plans to "go back behind the camera faster than I think" and is "in the writing zone right now... These movies take a lot of time to be made, so it’s best not to say out loud when I might shoot."
"Let’s say," Villeneuve notes, "that I thought that after Part Two that I will take a break, that I will go back in the woods and stay in the woods for a while to recover. But the woods weren’t really suiting me, and I would go back behind the camera faster than I think. But that’s all I can say."
That's a little vague, but based on other comments made during this interview, it sounds like the current plan is to begin shooting in 2026 so we may be waiting a while before seeing this one.
Villeneuve confirms Dune: Messiah's main players are Timothée Chalamet as Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Florence Pugh as Princess Arulen, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides.
"They have to return. They are with the main cast when it happens. And more worms. What can I say?" he teases.
It's going to be very exciting watching this one come together and those of you who have read the book will know that Dune: Messiah should be a huge movie which, in many ways, eclipses what we saw in Dune and Dune: Part Two.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.