‘Dune’ Director Gives Update on Trilogy Plans: ‘That Would be The Dream’

It was a bad weekend for for Dune fans overall as Warner Bros. officially announced that it is delaying the release of Dune: Part Two. However, director Denis Villeneuve helped cushion the blow with some new comments about his plans for Dune: Part Three. If possible, the filmmaker hopes to adapt the second book in the series to make the third movie in his trilogy.

Villeneuve is a die-hard fan of the original Dune novels by Frank Herbert, and since at least 2021 he has mentioned his hopes to make a trilogy of films – two adapting the story from the first novel and a third adapting the story from the second novel, Dune Messiah. This weekend in an interview with Empire Magazine, he mentioned that plan again, saying: “If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream.”

Of course, that still hinges on the success of the second movie and the cooperation of the studios, but Villeneuve seems to be optimistic. While nothing has been greenlit, he said “There are words on paper” for Dune: Part Three. We will have to wait until the movie’s new release date on March 15, 2024, to see if he gets to put those words to use.

Villeneuve explained his take on Dune Messiah, giving some insight into how he would approach the movie. He said: Dune Messiah was written in reaction to the fact that people perceived Paul Atreides as a hero. Which is not what [Herbert] wanted to do. My adaptation is closer to his idea that it’s actually a warning.”

As Villeneuve’s movie has inspired fresh interest in Herbert’s books, the interpretation he is describing has become more mainstream, with forums and content creators discussing it extensively on social media. Dune is a sci-fi-fantasy story where a few characters are given the power of literal gods, but they continually learn that that’s not enough to change fundamental human nature – for better or worse.

Herbert wrote six Dune novels and left behind notes for a second when he passed away. Since then, his son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson have worked together on other books in the franchise. However, Villeneuve seemed to say he was not interested in adapting anything past Herbert’s second novel, telling Empire: “After that the books become more… esoteric.”

While Villeneuve isn’t interested in exploring the outer reaches of The Dune Chronicles, Warner Bros. clearly is. The studio is still working on a spin-off series called Dune: The Sisterhood, which would be set about 10,000 years before the events of Villeneuve’s movies and would be based on some of Anderson and Brian Herbert’s work. That show is reportedly filming now, while Dune: Part Two is finished and awaiting its belated release date in March.