The theatrical release of “Dune 2” was postponed from November 2023 to March 2024 due to the Hollywood strike – but Denis Villeneuve (55) is already thinking about a third part. “If I can do a trilogy, that would be a dream,” he told Empire. The director revealed to the magazine that he is already writing another film based on the Frank Herbert (1920-1986) novel saga. “There are already words on paper,” promised the Canadian.
Denis Villeneuve divided Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune” from 1965 into two films with young star Timothée Chalamet (27). The template for his third film adaptation has already been determined. He wants to adapt “Dune Messiah”. Herbert published the book in 1969 as a sequel to his cult novel.
According to Denis Villeneuve, with “Dune Messiah” Frank Herbert reacted to a misinterpretation of many readers of “Dune”. They had perceived the main character Paul Atreides as a hero. But that was not what Herbert intended for Villeneuve. “My adaptation is closer to his idea that ‘Dune’ is more of a warning.”
The “Blade Runner: 2049” director now wants to clearly work out this view of the book author in his dream project. But after part 3 of “Dune Messiah” it should be over for him. “The books get more and more esoteric after that,” Villeneuve continued on “Empire.”
Frank Herbert wrote a total of six volumes about the desert planet Arrakis. A planned seventh novel was prevented by his death in 1986. Frank Herbert’s son Brian Herbert (76) published several other books from the “Dune” cosmos together with the author Kevin J. Anderson (61), which, for example, tell the history of the first volume.
