Denis Villeneuve’s last two feature films were 2021’s “Dune” and 2024’s “Dune: Part Two,” collectively an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s celebrated 1965 sci-fi epic set in the distant, distant future. Villeneuve’s “Dune” films removed a lot of the eerie mysticism of Herbert’s works, focusing instead on the book’s sociopolitical underpinnings. They told a story of how religions are deliberately wielded by cynical political power-seekers to topple existing regimes, and how those regimes can, in turn, be manipulated by different shady religious zealots. The main character of the film was Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a young prince who escaped assassination, fled into the deserts of the planet Arrakis, took solace among the remote desert-dwelling people, and — thanks to the machinations of his mother — became the desert’s Messiah. He then returned to overthrow the killer Harkonnen family.
All of this, it should be noted, was to gain control of Arrakis, the only known source of a valuable substance called Spice (a hallucinogen that is, in a roundabout way, necessary for interstellar travel). The original “Dune” book is about a holy war that is, in fact, a war over natural resources.
Herbert wrote six “Dune” novels, and the story only becomes wilder and wilder with each sequel. There are millennia-long time jumps, with one character evolving into a human/sandworm monster with godlike powers. Fans have idly speculated that Villeneuve could ultimately devote the rest of his directing career to making “Dune” films and adapting not just Herbert’s other books, but also the latter-day prequel novels co-penned by the author’s son, Brian Herbert.
Villeneuve, however, has said that he would like to adapt Herbert’s second novel, “Dune Messiah” … but that he would like to leave the world of “Dune” after that. In an interview with Vanity Fair, he reaffirmed that “Messiah” will be the end for him. Other filmmakers may take up further “Dune” sequels as they see fit.
Someone else can make Dune: Part 4
Time will tell if Villeneuve’s next “Dune” project will be considered “Dune: Part 3” or “Dune Messiah: Part 1.” For now, as shorthand, everyone seems to be using the former nomenclature. If the film is called “Dune: Part 3,” however, and Villeneuve steps away from the series after that, he still wants to make sure that it isn’t the end of the story. As he explained to VF, he doesn’t see his films as a “trilogy” and feels that other storytellers could easily step in once he’s done:
“If ‘Dune Messiah’ happens, it will have been many years for me on Arrakis, and I would love to do something else. I think that it would be a good idea for me to make sure that, in ‘Messiah,’ there are the seeds in the project if someone wants to do something else afterwards, because they are beautiful books. They are more difficult to adapt. They become more and more esoteric. It’s a bit more tricky to adapt, but I’m not closing the door. I will not do it myself, but it could happen with someone else.”
The third book that Herbert wrote is called “Children of Dune,” published in 1974. It was followed by “God Emperor of Dune” in 1981, “Heretics of Dune” in 1984, and “Chapterhouse: Dune” in 1985. As Villeneuve noted, they get increasingly esoteric and cover a lot of ground. If Villeneuve followed the model for his first “Dune” adaptation, each book could require multiple films to adapt properly. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and might necessitate as many as 12 features.
Villeneuve, though, would like to do other things with his career.
The fame that Dune wrought
Although Villeneuve was already starting to become a household name thanks to films like “Sicario” and “Arrival,” the mega-success of his “Dune” movies pushed him even further into the spotlight. The filmmaker didn’t necessarily like that, either. All of a sudden, he was fielding questions from the press about his future projects and felt that he couldn’t quietly develop whatever he wanted under the cover of obscurity. He’s only now getting used to talking about his future projects, which are, naturally, not all “Dune”-related. Indeed, Villeneuve has specific things lined up. In his own words:
“The thing I envy in my past is that before nobody cared about what I was doing next. No, I’m joking, but it was easier to stay under the radar, and I don’t like to have a lot of projects on the stove; I like to do one thing at a time. I have too many things right now. It’s true that I’m working on ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ and that screenplay is slowly moving forward. ‘Cleopatra’ as well. And ‘Dune Messiah.’ I’m looking forward to going back behind the camera, and we’ll see what will be next.”
“Rendezvous with Rama” is an adaptation of the 1973 sci-fi novel by Arthur C. Clarke about a mysterious visiting spacecraft that contains its own fast-evolving biome. He is also attached to direct a biography of Cleopatra based on the 2010 book by Stacy Schiff and has implied that he’s further attached to an unrevealed tertiary project, about which he has shared no details. At least one of these, it would seem, could be made before Villeneuve gets around to “Dune Messiah.”
It appears it may be a while before audiences return to Arrakis.
