Dune: Messiah appears to be starting sooner rather than later.
Per Deadline, Denis Villeneuve’s third Dune film is expected to begin filming in June. Legendary Pictures has not confirmed Dune 3’s official start date.
In July 2024, Warner Bros. dated a Villeneuve event film with Legendary Pictures for December 2026. Though not announced as Dune 3, expectations were that Messiah would take the December date and wrap up Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy.
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Villeneuve was originally supposed to take a break from Frank Herbert’s universe after Dune: Part Two, with a production start date in 2026. In October, the French Canadian director changed course and revealed he was in the “writing zone” for Messiah, which would arrive sooner than originally planned.
“Let’s say that I thought that after Part Two that I will take a break, that I will go back in the woods and stay in the woods for a while to recover,” Villeneuve said. “But the woods weren’t really suiting me, and I would go back behind the camera faster than I think. But that’s all I can say.”
Set 12 years after the events of Dune, Dune: Messiah follows Emperor Paul “Muad’Dib” Atreides, the messianic figure to the Fremen who ignited a religious jihad that killed 61 billion people. The cast has not been confirmed, but many of the previous film’s actors are expected to return, most notably Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides.
2024 marked the release of Dune: Part Two, the second part of Villeneuve’s two-film adaptation of Dune. Released in March 2024, Dune: Part received critical acclaim and grossed over $714 million worldwide. Dune: Part Two received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
