Breaking Baz: Denis Villeneuve Reveals That He Will Go Back Behind The Camera “Faster Than I Think” To Make The Third ‘Dune’ Universe Movie

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EXCLUSIVE: Denis Villeneuve says that his “break” is over and that he will ”go back behind the camera faster than I think” to film the third instalment of his “deep” immersion into Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. “I’m in the writing zone right now,” the filmmaker says, referring to Dune: Messiah, though he was careful not to call it Dune: Part Three.

Villeneuve insists that Dune: Part One and Part Two are ”for me like one entity. It’s a movie made in two parts. It’s finished, it’s done.” The Canadian-French director says that he could have stopped at Dune: Part Two, “but yes, like Herbert did with Dune: Messiah, I think it’ll be a great idea to do something completely different.

The story takes place like 12 years after where we left the characters at the end of Part Two. Their journey, their story is different this time, and that’s why I always say that while it’s the same world it’s a new film with new circumstances.” That new movie, he continues “will finish the Paul Atreides arc.” And that will also end Villeneuve’s association with the Dune universe, even though  Herbert penned four other Dune sequels after Dune: Messiah.

Villeneuve says the central players returning for Dune: Messiah are Timothée Chalamet as Atreides; Zendaya as the Fremen tribal warrior Chani, who tries to guide him; and Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy. “They have to return.