‘Dune Messiah’: Denis Villeneuve Says Strong Response To ‘Dune: Part Two’ From Cinephiles Is Partly Why He Wants To Shoot Sooner Than Planned

2024 felt like the year of “Dune” as Denis Villeneuve‘s acclaimed “Dune: Part Two” certainly surpassed the bar established by the first installment by tripling the volume of action and adventure with his exploration of the expansive sci-fi fantasy universe created by famed author Frank Herbert. The sequel, an adaptation of the second half of the first Herbert novel, has landed a Best Picture nomination at this year’s Oscars ceremony and has some tough competition with “The Brutalist” seen by some as the favorite for multiple awards. However, folks (including Josh Brolin) have been puzzled as to why Villeneuve was overlooked for a Best Director nod.

Well, some new comments from Villeneuve over the weekend at The Saturn Awards (via Collider) reveal that the French-Canadian filmmaker is hoping to get going on his third installment, “Dune Messiah,” sooner than he previously planned, and it is all thanks to the audience and critical response to “Dune: Part Two” and being compelled to finish his adaption of the story.

READ MORE: Denis Villeneuve Is “Very Optimistic” About The Future Of The Theatrical Experience

“Chani’s heart is broken, and it’s the beginning of the Holy War and that’s where we left, so in a way, I’d say it’s quite similar. I was expecting to do something else before, but frankly, that’s the inspiration that came to my mind as I took a break this summer and was going back and finishing the story. I was really moved by the way Part Two was received by cinephiles around the world, and I felt an appetite and a desire to see more and a responsibility to finish that story,” the director told Collider about his reasoning for wanting to make “Dune Messiah” sooner than we all expected.

Villeneuve stopped short of revealing exactly when he plans to get cameras rolling. In October of last year, the director indicated to Deadline they were still in the scripting stage by saying he was “in the writing zone.” For the returning cast, it’s all but confirmed that we’ll see Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Florence Pugh on the call sheet for “Dune Messiah.” Scheduling is going to be extremely important here given how busy many of these actors are regularly.

This update comes after there was talk that Villeneuve would attempt to make another feature project before returning to the deserts of Arrakis and had once suggested “Dune Messiah” could begin filming sometime in 2026. Three options that sprung up as potential projects he could make before his third “Dune” tale included a long-gestating “Cleopatra” movie, “Nuclear War: A Scenario” at Legendary, and an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s (penned “2001: A Space Odyssey”) sci-fi book “Rendezvous With Rama“ for Alcon Entertainment.

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Legendary and Warner Bros. Pictures seem to want to keep going with “Dune” given their HBO spinoff “Dune: Prophecy“ expanding on the lore and they’ll have “Children of Dune” (once adapted into a SyFy miniseries in the 2000s) to focus on next once Villeneuve has ended his tenure as the director told Times he’ll exit after this third movie. We’ll see if the studio has the stomach and money to pursue more stories beyond the first three Herbert books, there are six in all, including a wave of installments penned by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (the recent HBO series is a loose adaptation of “Sisterhood of Dune”).

We’re still waiting for WB to give “Dune Messiah” an official release date, as that should give us a better idea of when cameras could begin rolling.