‘Dune 3′ has a release date: Warner Bros. sets a date for Denis Villeneuve's next big thing

The absolute critical and public success of the two parts of ‘Dune’ directed by Denis Villeneuve has led Warner Bros. to put all its trust in the Canadian filmmaker. The next meeting with Paul Atreides will take place in December 2026, when ‘Dune 3′, the final film in the trilogy based on the novel ‘Dune Messiah’ by Frank Herbert, is expected to be released.

Warner Bros. sees ‘Dune Messiah’ as “Denis Villeneuve event film

Warner Bros. has dropped some very clear hints about the release of Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming ‘Dune’ film, Deadline reports. That’s because a December 2026 production previously announced as an “Untitled Event Film” has now updated its name to “Denis Villeneuve Event Film.” Given that his most critically and popularly acclaimed films are the two parts of ‘Dune’, the intentions are clear: it was a roundabout way of confirming the release date of ‘Dune 3′ to build anticipation among fans.

In April 2024, it was confirmed that Legendary had already begun work on the script for ‘Dune 3′, which would adapt ‘Dune Messiah’ (1969), the novel that served as a sequel to Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ (1965). At the time, Villeneuve himself set a very clear condition for a then hypothetical sequel: he only wanted to do it if this third part surpassed the previous ones. And considering that the project is going ahead with his participation, the proposal from the production company Legendary Pictures had to be very juicy for the Canadian director to accept.

However, Villeneuve has been very clear and has repeatedly expressed that ‘Messiah’ will be his last ‘Dune’ movie, so his way of telling Frank Herbert’s story will effectively become a trilogy. So ‘Dune Messiah’ will be the conclusion of that trilogy.

No major details have been revealed about ‘Dune 3′ beyond the fact that it will be released in late 2026, but we can expect the return of key actors and their respective characters left alive at the end of ‘Dune: Part 2′ like Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Zendaya as Chani or Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan.

Denis Villeneuve’s special vision of ‘Dune’

The Canadian filmmaker is responsible for rebooting the ‘Dune’ saga on the big screen after David Lynch’s ill-fated 1984 film. Villeneuve decided to adapt Frank Herbert’s novel ‘Dune’ into two separate films, to be released in 2021 and 2024; both were box office hits and are considered among the best science fiction films of the current decade, with very positive reviews from both critics and audiences. The first film won six Academy Awards.

Dune’ and ‘Dune: Part Two’ tell the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), heir to the House Atreides, a brilliant young man who must travel to Arrakis, the most dangerous planet in the universe. On this planet, Spice is cultivated, a substance necessary for safe interstellar travel. But both Emperor Shaddam IV and House Harkonnen conspire against the Atreides to eradicate them, fearing that their power will grow too great and they will be destroyed sooner. This leads Paul to seek refuge among the desert-dwelling Fremen tribes, claiming to be the Lisan al Gaib, the long-awaited Messiah who will lead the Fremen in a holy war across the universe.

Since Herbert’s work on ‘Dune’ is not limited to a single novel, but consists of several books, there is a lot of material to adapt, and the next point to continue the plot is ‘Dune: Messiah’, a book originally published in 1969 and a direct sequel to the first work.