Denis Villeneuve Wants To End His Dune Trilogy With A Dune Messiah Adaptation

Fans got a hearty helping of Dune: Part Two yesterday with a wild new trailer, showing everything from Feyd (Austin Butler) in action, to Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) delivering his iconic speech to the Freman. Even though there are only two parts to the Paul and House Atreides narrative, director Denis Villeneuve wants to fans to get a taste of the larger mythos at play with a third Dune film.

Deadline has reported that Villeneuve intends to cap off his Dune trilogy with a much deeper dive into Frank Herbert's lore of the world of Dune with an adaptation of Dune Messiah. This film would be co-written by Villeneuve and screenwriter Jon Spaihts. Obviously, Warner Bros. Discovery has not yet officially announced active development for Part Three but should Part Two find success like its predecessor, a conclusion should be a no-brainer.

Dune Messiah was the second novel in the Dune Chronicles released in 1969. The book was adapted in the 2003 miniseries Children of Dune--the name of the actual third novel--which included parts of both "Messiah" and "Children."

Messiah takes place 12 years after the events of the first Dune novel with Paul still as Emperor and also accepting the role of messiah to the Fremen. Even though tens of billions have died during his great war, his visions for the future tell him that this is far from the worst possible outcome for humanity.

Back on the events of Dune: Part Two, Paul is still finding himself and his role in the Known Universe. With Christopher Walken as the villainous Shaddam IV, the Emperor plotting against him, and Paul finding love in Chani (Zendaya) instead of his betrothed Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh).

Alongside Chalamet, Zendaya, Walken, Pugh, and Butler is an all-star cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem. New additions include Souheila Yacoub and Tim Blake Nelson in an undisclosed role.

Dune: Part Two arrives in theaters on November 3.