Dune Director Denis Villeneuve Finally Has Promising Update on Messiah

Dune and Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve has been expressing for years that he was interested in adapting Dune Messiah into a movie, with the filmmaker himself confirming that he’s currently in the early stages of writing the script for the sequel. While speaking with Variety, Villeneuve merely noted that the script was “in the works,” and given how the second entry in the series was only released just earlier this year, it’ll likely be some time before the filmmaker is ready to head back to Arrakis. Still, knowing that the filmmaker is working on concluding the trilogy at all is something that fans will celebrate.

When asked by Variety about the script, Villeneuve confirmed, “It’s in the works. It’s why I’m not staying here [at the Toronto International Film Festival] that long.”

The overall trajectory of Villeneuve’s Dune series has been a bit complicated, to say the least. Initially slated for theatrical release in 2020, the movie was delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Late in 2020, Warner Bros. confirmed that its entire 2021 theatrical slate would release both in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day, with Villeneuve quickly criticizing the move, not only due to his movie being designed for the theatrical experience, but also because he knew the streaming availability would impact his movie’s box-office performance, along with its possible big-screen future.

Villeneuve’s Dune would go on to score a number of Oscar nominations, which helped earn it the necessary momentum for the filmmaker to develop Dune: Part Two. Releasing earlier this year, Part Two proved to be a massive financial and critical success, taking in more than $700 million at the global box office and sitting at 92% positive review on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Villeneuve had alerted audiences to the fact that his first Dune would only adapt the first half of the book and Part Two would complete the adaptation, fans who are unfamiliar with the source material have wondered about the resolution to the sequel. With both the original novel and Part Two merely teasing how Paul Atreides would venture out into the galaxy with his newfound power, Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah novel offered a more fulfilling conclusion to the figure’s impact on the rest of that mythology.

Stay tuned for updates on the future of Dune Messiah.

Are you hoping we get a third movie soon? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!