After significant delays related to actor and screenwriter strikes that impacted the film industry, the anticipated sequel to Dune is back on its way to the big screen. Now, Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic will hit theaters next year with the intention of continuing the expansion of the universe and, why not, paving the way for a new installment. According to Variety, the filmmaker recently spoke at a press conference in South Korea and acknowledged that he considers this new Dune movie to be even better than the first one. At the same time, in that conversation he also revealed that the script for the third film is in development under the provisional title of Dune: Messiah.
“The screenplay is almost finished but it is not finished. It will take a little time…There’s a dream of making a third movie…it would make absolute sense to me,” confessed the director who was also behind Blade Runner 2049.
However, in that same interaction Villeneuve explained that the task of making both films was a mammoth one and that this has prevented him from tackling new projects. Thus, he explained that he would like to explore something else between the second and third films. In terms of the industry, it will also depend on how Dune: Part 2 performs at the box office before the project is officially greenlit. "I don’t know exactly when I will go back to Arrakis,” Villeneuve said. “I might make a detour before just to go away from the sun. For my mental sanity I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet that I love."
