Dune 3 Report Reveals Messiah’s “Real” Leads Replacing Timothée Chalamet & Zendaya

WARNING: There are potential spoilers for the next Dune movie ahead! Denis Villeneuve’s third Dune film adaptation will begin filming soon, and Hollywood is buzzing about how he will turn this unconventional story into a blockbuster. Last week, The Insneider‘s Jeff Sneider revealed the latest rumors about casting and characters for the upcoming movie. He has heard from unnamed sources that Zendaya has a small role in this sequel, and that even Timothée Chalamet is not necessarily the “lead.” Instead, he said the story centers around the characters played by Anya Taylor-Joy, Florence Pugh, and Jason Momoa. This isn’t too shocking for those who have read the novel Dune Messiah, but it raises some questions about connected this trilogy will feel.

Sneider joined John Rocha on his podcast The Hot Mic last week to discuss the latest Hollywood news, and both admitted that their insight on the third Dune movie is little more than rumor. Back in April, it was reported that Robert Pattinson was in talks to play the character Scytale, but beyond that, there shouldn’t be too much casting news for the third installment in a trilogy. The characters we’ve already gotten to know need screentime to complete their arcs.

That doesn’t mean the focus and perspective will stay the same. Sources familiar with the production have reportedly told Sneider that Zendaya’s role in the movie is minimized, and even Chalamet takes a bit of a backseat. Taylor-Joy plays his younger sister, Alia Atreides, while Pugh plays his wife, Princess Irulan. Momoa played Paul’s friend and mentor Duncan Idaho in the first movie, but he was killed defending House Atreides. In this movie, a clone of Duncan — called a ghola — will be given to Paul as a gift.

[RELATED: 5 Dune Movie Moments Better Than the Books]

Frank Herbert’s novel Dune Messiah focuses heavily on Alia and this ghola, and it’s fair to say that Paul’s perspective gets reduced attention to allow for this. However, the book doesn’t devote much time to Irulan — no more than it does to Zendaya’s character, Chani. In this area, the story will need to change a bit to account for Villeneuve’s changes to the story in Dune: Part Two. There, Chani is angry at Paul for committing the Fremen to war against the Galactic Empire, and she leaves him at the end of the film. In the books, she accepts that Paul’s marriage to Irulan is a political expedient, and she stays by his side.

This may have ripple effects on Villeneuve’s movie, but it could also be rolled neatly into the time-skip between these two stories. So far, Sneider’s rumors are our best insight into how Villeneuve will handle the 12-year gap. Even if Chalamet gets less screentime in his movie, it’s hard to imagine him being relegated to a supporting character — Villeneuve has spoken about Dune as a coming-of-age story in interviews, and it sounds like Paul’s journey is at the heart of this narrative as he sees it.

The third Dune movie will begin filming this summer, and is currently schedule for release on December 18, 2026. The first two movies are streaming now on Max, and Herbert’s novels are available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.