While “Dune: Part Two” does not arrive until March 1—and is said to be a long 2 hours and 45 minutes—people are still asking what’s next and if “Dune: Messiah” could be a “Dune: Part Three.” Well, in a new interview with Fandango, when asked if they’d be interested in doing more, Zendaya, seemingly speaking for the assembled cast, said yes if director Denis Villeneuve is on board. So are they.
“Would we be down? I mean, of course. Any time Denis calls, it’s a yes from me,” she explained. “I’m excited to see what happens. I started ‘Messiah,’ and I was like, ‘Woah, I’m only shooting the first movie. Let me just go back to the first one.’ It’s so much to take in, but there are no better hands with better care and love for it than Denis.”
“Dune: Part Two” also stars Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Josh Brolin, and Rebecca Ferguson. As for the future of the movie franchise, Zendaya just added that she’s “just excited to see … It’s just anticipation.”
A third film has not been confirmed, but Villeneuve told Empire magazine last year that he would be interested in a third movie based on Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah, the second book in his Dune series. “If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream,” the filmmaker said a year ago. “I will say, there are words on paper .”
Is that a sure thing? Well, rumors have it that Villeneuve’s next movie is “Cleopatra,” starring none other than Zendaya, but that’s not a sure thing either.
“Dune: Part Two” wasn’t even green-lit until months after the release of the first one and was never a guarantee. Released during the pandemic, “Dune” reportedly had to hit the magic number of at least $400 million worldwide to receive a sequel part two. The film eventually rolled up to $402 million worldwide. Not a bad figure for a movie essentially released in the heart of the still ongoing pandemic and far besting other Warner Bros. films released that year like “The Suicide Squad” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” which came out in late 2020 and rolled into early 2021.
So if and when a third “Dune” is announced, don’t be surprised it’s not until long after “Dune: Part Two” is a “proven success.” Given the pandemic is long over, however, that benchmark figure of expectation may have risen a lot higher though. Time will tell. Watch the full interview below, and meanwhile, check out some new images via Games Radar.
