Denis Villeneuve Clarifies He’s Not Making a ‘Dune’ Trilogy

Denis Villeneuve has clarified that his Dune films are “not like a trilogy.”

The 56-year-old filmmaker plans to depart the blockbuster sci-fi series after one last epic if Dune Messiah goes ahead, but he has explained that the third movie based on Frank Herbert’s classic novel, will have its “own identity.”

He told Vanity Fair: “It’s important that people understand that for me, it was really a diptych. It was really a pair of movies that will be the adaptation of the first book. That’s done and that’s finished. If I do a third one, which is in the writing process, it’s not like a trilogy. It’s strange to say that, but if I go back there, it’s to do something that feels different and has its own identity.”

The third movie will follow 2021’s Dune and this year’s Dune: Part Two, should it come off.

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Dune Messiah is set 12 years after the first book, so should cast members such as Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya return, they will need to look older. However, Villeneuve insists that’s no issue.

He said: “That’s my problem. I know how to do that.”

Villeneuve has ruled out doing any more films in the franchise himself but would love for someone else to take over from him, though he warned it’s not easy feat.

He said: “Listen, 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.”

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