More Dune could be on the way if the second film is a box office success, as director Denis Villeneuve explained in an interview that it’s his dream to helm a trilogy of movies based on Frank Herbert’s books. If Dune: Part Two performs well enough, Villeneuve’s plan is to adapt Dune: Messiah for the big screen, the book that brings the tale of Paul Atreides to a close in a story that sees tens of billions people die during his reign as emperor.
“If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream,” Villeneuve said to Empire. “Part Three, then, would consist of Dune Messiah, Herbert’s direct follow-up to Dune. “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. I will say, there are words on paper.”
Villeneuve added that Dune: Part Three would likely be his final film in that series, as after the events of Messiah, the books became more “esoteric” in his opinion. Dune: Messiah has been adapted for television, as a mini-series combined both the second book and the third novel, Children of Dune, in 2003. Villeneuve’s plan hinges on the box office performance of Dune: Part Two, which has been delayed by several months into 2024, while the strikes of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) continue.