Dune director approaching Part Three with caution "because of the enthusiasm"

Dune was a hit when it premiered in theaters in 2021. Dune: Part Two, which finished adapting Frank Herbert's iconic 1965 sci-fi book, was an even bigger hit; it's closing in at $600 million at the box office, and everybody wants to see what Denis Villeneuve and his cast of lightning-bright stars will do next next. Villeneuve has said before that he'd like to direct a movie adaptation of Dune Messiah, Herbert's first sequel to Dune. Will that come to pass?

“I did both movies back-to-back, which makes absolute sense for me,” Villeneuve recently told Empire magazine. “I felt that it was a good idea to move forward right after ‘Part One.’ We were already designing, writing, et cetera. But it also meant that for six years I was on Arrakis non-stop, and I think it will be healthy to step back a little bit. First, make sure that we have a strong screenplay. The thing I want to avoid is not having something ready. I never did it, and now I feel it could be dangerous because of the enthusiasm. We need to make sure all the ideas are on paper.”

"If we go back, it needs to be real, it needs to be relevant. If ever I do ‘Dune Messiah,’ [it’s] because it’s going to be better than ‘Part Two.' Otherwise, I don’t do it."

Villeneuve has said before that he's already working on a screenplay for Dune: Part Three, and cast members like Zendaya have already said they'll willing to come back. It'd be interesting if the passionate reaction to Dune: Part Two had actually slowed his roll a little as he protects against the instinct to start up everything immediately, which you can bet that money-happy executives at Warner Bros. Discovery are eager to do. They have a hit on their hands, but if there's any movie that can benefit from a slow-but-steady approach, it's Dune, it's a slow-but-steady sort of sci-fi epic.

And besides, WBD already has a Dune TV show coming: Dune: Prophecy should come out on Max sometime this year. So the growing fandom will get fed one way or another.

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