News Dune: Part Three Dune Messiah Is Just Dune: Part Three Now Maybe “Dun3” wasn’t clear enough. By Molly Templeton | Published on July 8, 2025 Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Dune director Denis Villeneuve is making Dune Messiah. Even before Dune Part Two came out, the director was talking about the third novel in Frank Herbert’s series, saying it “would be the dream” to make a trilogy. Villeneuve told Empire, “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 [of Dune] is closer to his idea that it’s actually a warning.” And this is happening. It was confirmed last year. There’s casting news and everything. But don’t look for Dune Messiah on your local multiplex marquee. Nope: This is just Dune: Part Three. One can only assume that the studios behind this film thought it would be too confusing for audiences to endure a slight change in title structure after two films. Never mind that Dune Messiah is the second book in the series, and that it is not the third part of the first book. We must have simplicity! And numbers! (Yes, Wicked changed its Part Two to For Good but shhh.) Also, never mind that Villeneuve told Vanity Fair in September that the three movies don’t make a trilogy at all: 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. In announcing this title, Variety also notes that Dune 3: Arrakis Drift Dune: Part Three will not be entirely shot with Imax cameras, as previously reported, but will have some sequences shot with Imax cameras. Just some very big sandworms. Not all of them. Dune: Part Three is expected to be in theaters December 16, 2026.[end-mark] The post <i>Dune Messiah</i> Is Just <i>Dune: Part Three</i> Now appeared first on Reactor.