The ending to Denis Villeneuve's Dune trilogy draws ever closer, and now at last, we have the final trailer for the movie to tide us over until its December 18 release date. Dune: Part Three picks up 19 years after the second film, when Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) has secured his rule over the galaxy through a long, horrific holy war that saw the deaths of billions. Can Paul still be a hero, when he's the galaxy's most infamous mass murderer? Was he ever even a hero to begin with?
Dune: Part Three will face these questions head on, which is just as it should be, considering the source material its adapting. At the same time, the trailer makes it clear that the trilogy will be ending with a bang, featuring plenty of the action, sweeping vistas, riveting performances, and jaw-dropping visuals that the series is known for. Watch:
It's Paul vs Chani in the final trailer for Dune: Part Three
While all the action and epic scale look set to meet the lofty standard set by Villeneuve's first two Dune films, it's the human turmoil at the heart of this story that has me on the edge of my seat the most. The trailer opens with Paul using the Voice on his wife, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh). These two only have a marriage of convenience in the thinnest sense as an excuse for Paul to hold the throne, yet even if there's no love between them it's still hard to watch Paul essentially torture her. There's no ambiguity about the fact that Paul Atreides is fully in his villain era in Dune: Part Three.
Irulan reveals a shocking twist: there's an assassination plot in the works to oust Paul from power, and his Fremen lover, Chani (Zendaya), is involved. If you've read Dune Messiah, this probably made you shout at the screen like it did for me. Getting into some mild spoilers for the book, Dune Messiah does indeed center around a plot to kill Paul, with many major characters involved. That includes Irulan herself, and the shapeshifter Scytale, played in the movie by Robert Pattinson. The seemingly resurrected Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), known now as the ghola Hayt, is also a piece in this puzzle, though not of his own will.
However, one person who is explicitly not part of the plot to overthrow Paul is Chani. In the book, she and Paul never have a falling out; instead, she remains by his side as he rules from Arrakis. Paul never sleeps with Irulan, and it's made clear again and again that he has devoted his heart to Chani, even if all she can ever be to him is a concubine.
This trailer puts Chani firmly in the drama as the primary driver of the friction against Paul, framing it as a battle between the two of them. This is a massive change from how these characters are portrayed in Frank Herbert's novel, but it does make sense for the film universe Villeneuve has created, which expands Chani into a character with much more agency and purpose of her own.
While such a large deviation from the book makes me nervous, Villeneuve has more than earned the confidence for even diehard fans of Herbert's work to go along with it, until we see how it all comes together in the final film. I'd hope for a happy ending for Paul and Chani, but the chances for that feel about as close to zero as they get.
Dune: Part Three premieres in theaters and IMAX on December 18, 2026. Pre-sale tickets are now available, if you want to secure your seat for opening night.
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