So, we’re maybe getting a third ‘Dune.’ That is either very good or very bad news, depending on who you speak to. Some would rather have the talented Denis Villeneuve delve into something less sci-fi niche, but he’s clearly zoning in on a third film.
Villeneuve confirmed the plans to make “Dune: Messiah” in an interview with Empire Magazine:
“There are words on paper. If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream. “Dune Messiah” was written in reaction to the fact that people perceived Paul Atreides as a hero. Which is not what he wanted to do. My adaptation [of Dune] is closer to his idea that it’s actually a warning.”
Of course, it’ll all depend on how well “Dune: Part Two” does. We won’t know until its March 2024 release date. The first one, released during the pandemic, did decently well and amassed a large-enough fanbase.
Turning “Dune” into a film has been a lifelong dream for Villeneuve, ever since his childhood in rural Montreal — at 8-years-old he was storyboarding his “Dune” movie.
It makes sense that he would want to keep on making these films. Herbert’s ‘Messiah’ is known as the closure of the saga, Villeneuve adds that in the books released after ‘Messiah’ the story gets a little too “esoteric” to actually make films based on those stories.
Will Villeneuve take a break before embarking on the third film ‘Messiah’? He still wants to make “Cleopatra” and there are loose rumors about his helming a Bond movie. He was also supposed to shoot an HBO limited series with Jake Gylenhaal in the fall before the strikes thwarted those plans.
Villeneuve has built up quite the filmography in recent years — there’s a large fanbase for his work. Some of his past films include “Incendies,” “Sicario,” “Arrival” and “Blade Runner 2049.”