Denis Villeneuve Isn't Closing the Book on the DUNE Franchise After Part Three; Says Someone Else Can Take Over

While Dune: Messiah will be Denis Villeneuve’s final Dune film, the story he tells will not close the book on the franchise and he says more films can happen with other filmmakers.

The director recently appeared on Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast and when talking about the first two movies, he said: “First, it’s important that people understand that for me, it was really a diptych.

“It was really a pair of movies that will be the adaptation of the first book. That’s done and that’s finished. If I do a third one, which is in the writing process, it’s not like a trilogy. It’s strange to say that, but if I go back there, it’s to do something that feels different and has its own identity.”

Dune Messiah is set 12 years after the events of the first Dune novel, so a film adaptation would likely have to age up Villeneuve’s young cast which includes Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh. In regards to that, the director said: “I know how to do that” but did not share any additional details.

Villeneuve goes on to talk about how he is fine with other directors stepping in to take over after he’s spent so many years delivering these films.

He shared: “Listen, if Dune: Messiah happens, it will have been many years for me on Arrakis, and I would love to do something else. I think that it would be a good idea for me to make sure that, in Messiah, there are the seeds in the project if someone wants to do something else afterwards, because they are beautiful books.

“They are more difficult to adapt. They become more and more esoteric. It’s a bit more tricky to adapt, but I’m not closing the door. I will not do it myself, but it could happen with someone else.”

I’m sure that Villeneuve will end up making Dune: Messiah, as for what happens after that, it’s anyone’s guess! But, is there another filmmaker you’d like to see take a crack at making a Dune movie?