Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two will bring the second half of Frank Herbert’s original novel to the screen. This is the part with occupation, insurrection, and war. In an interview with Empire to discuss the upcoming movie, Villeneuve once again mentioned his desire to make a third entry based on Dune: Messiah, the next book in the series. This time, he went further:
“If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream… I will say, there are words on paper.”
So work has already started on writing a third instalment? Dune Messiah is a much smaller book than the original, about a third in length, but it brings the story of Paul Atreides full circle and arguably combines with the first novel to tell a complete story before Herbert’s saga went a little off the rails with some truly psychedelic feeling story choices.
It deals with the unforeseen consequences of religion and deals with further plots among the great powers of the universe. Speaking of his approach, Villeneuve says Part Two has already touched on some of the subject matter of Dune Messiah:
“‘Dune Messiah was written in reaction to the fact that people perceived Paul Atreides as a hero. Which is not what he wanted to do. My adaptation is closer to his idea that it’s actually a warning.”
Speaking of the direction the books took after Dune Messiah, he indicated he agrees with our point of view, and this would mean he is done with the franchise after any potential Dune: Part Three.
“After that, the books become more… esoteric.”
The second book was adapted as part of the 2003 Syfy three-part mini-series Children of Dune, which took parts of the second book and also reached into the third.
Dune: Part Two has been delayed by the strikes, and will now open on March 15th, 2024.
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