Dune Part Three: Darker, bigger, and exactly what was needed

The trailer for Dune: Part Three — the final chapter in Denis Villeneuve's trilogy — dropped yesterday.  I've been watching it over and over, trying to pick up every hint and detail buried in those two and a half minutes. If this trailer and the first two films are any indication, we're in for a hell of a ride. What an epic finale this will surely be!

Despite what some will say, I'm not usually one to go full fanboy, but I'll make an exception here. 

Villeneuve's adaptation of the Dune universe has been close to perfection — though honestly, after Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, I shouldn't be surprised. The man knows how to make magnificent cinema. But even Villeneuve would be the first to admit that none of this works without Frank Herbert's brilliance on the page. This pulls me right back to cracking open that first Dune paperback in college (what we call CÉGEP here in Québec) and realizing I'd found something different — a universe so layered with political intrigue and backstory that it felt less like science fiction and more like something that actually happened, or would in humankind's far future. 

That's a long way from the almost comical early adaptations we endured on both the big screen and television.

And now we're getting Messiah.

Tipa says: "A few spoilers ahead for folks who haven't read the books."

What We Know So Far

For those unfamiliar, Villeneuve split Frank Herbert's original 1965 novel across two films — Dune in 2021 and Part Two in 2024. Part Three adapts Herbert's 1969 sequel, Dune Messiah, a darker, leaner book that essentially deconstructs everything the first novel built up. Where Dune gave us the hero's rise, Messiah asks what happens when that hero becomes something far more dangerous. Herbert wrote it specifically to challenge the cult of personality readers had built around Paul Atreides. It's a political thriller disguised as science fiction, and it's arguably the bravest thing Herbert ever wrote.

Villeneuve seems to understand that. He's called Dune Messiah his favorite book of the series and has said Part Three might be his most personal film. That's a striking claim from the director who gave us Arrival and Blade Runner 2049. But when you consider the story — power corrupting, a leader trapped by his own myth, the machinery of empire grinding forward regardless of one man's intentions — you can see why it resonates right now.

The film picks up seventeen years after Part Two. Paul is Emperor, married to Princess Irulan, still bound to Chani, and surrounded by forces conspiring against him — including the Bene Tleilax, a secretive sect of genetic manipulators. The cast is massive. Chalamet, Zendaya, Ferguson, Bardem, Pugh, and Taylor-Joy all return, with Anya Taylor-Joy now fully stepping into the role of the adult Alia. Robert Pattinson joins as the shape-shifting Scytale, and Jason Momoa is back as a resurrected Duncan Idaho.

December Can't Come Soon Enough

The production details alone are enough to get excited about. Shot on 65mm film with sequences in 15/70mm IMAX, filmed across Budapest and the deserts of Abu Dhabi, with Hans Zimmer returning for the score. Full speed toward the December 18th release.

That can't come soon enough. I'll be there opening weekend, planted in an IMAX theatre with friends, letting Zimmer's score rattle my chest once again, and Villeneuve's vision fill every inch of that screen.

The wait is almost over.

Almost.

News articles about the released trailer

• "‘Dune 3’ Trailer: Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya Are at War as Franchise Jumps 17 Years and Debuts Robert Pattinson’s Shape-Shifting Villain" | Variety
• "‘Dune: Part Three’ Plot Reveal: Denis Villeneuve, Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson & Javier Bardem Talk Babies, Timeline & Resurrection" | Deadline
• "‘Dune 3’ Is “a Thriller,” Says Denis Villeneuve as He Launches First Trailer With Zendaya and Robert Pattinson by His Side" | The Hollywood Reporter
• "‘Dune: Part Three’ Trailer: Denis Villeneuve Prepares to End His Space Opera with an Ambitious Epilogue" | IndieWire

My previous posts on Dune

• Dune: Part Two - Official Trailer 2 and detail breakdown
• Reflections on "Dune: Part Two The Photography"
• The Sands of Arrakis Beckon Again: Dune Part Two Unveiled