We may get to see another Dune film.
Although Denis Villeneuve adapted all of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel with his two Dune movies, there are many more Dune novels that could be adapted — and Villeneuve has already expressed some interest in making a movie version of the second book, Dune Messiah.
Asked at the Toronto International Film Festival about the status of a script for a potential third film, Villeneuve said “it’s in the works.”
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This isn’t too far off from what Villeneuve told me personally when I interviewed him for Dune: Part Two earlier this year. “I think that it absolutely makes sense to do an adaptation of Dune Messiah, he said. “When the screenplay is finished, then we’ll see. For now, the screenplay is not finished. And I don’t know how long it will take to finish it.”
The third film, if it stayed faithful to the events of the second novel, would be even wilder and weirder than the first two movies — if that is even possible. The book follows the Paul Atreides character (played in Villeneuve’s films by Timothee Chalamet) as he ascends to power in the universe, and how various factions attempt to destroy him and steal his throne.
While we await more word on a third Dune movie, there is a Dune television series coming this fall. Dune: Prophecy is scheduled to premiere on HBO and Max in November. The TV series is a prequel set centuries before the events of Villeneuve’s movies and showing how the Bene Gesserit sisterhood began planting the seeds throughout the universe for the arrival of the Paul Atreides character.
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Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky