Now that Warner Bros. and Legendary have officially confirmed thatDune: Part Twowill go ahead, director Denis Villeneuve is naturally busy figuring out the details for his planned second outing. That, though, isn't stopping him from speculating on a possible third film – and he already knows the source material.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Villeneuve explained his thinking. "I always envisioned three movies," he says. "It's not that I want to do a franchise, but this is Dune, and Dune is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice."
Dune novelist Frank Herbert, of course, wrote six books originally (his son Brian has since worked with Kevin J. Anderson on a host of prequels, sequels and spin-offs), following generations of Atreides over millennia and getting ever weirder. "Herbert wrote six books, and the more he was writing, the more it was getting psychedelic," Villeneuve explains. "So I don't know how some of them could be adapted. One thing at a time. If I ever have the chance to do Dune: Part Two and Dune Messiah, I'm blessed."
He should be able to cross one of those off his list when Dune: Part Two hits cinemas on 20 October, 2023.