‘Dune’ prepares for its expansion with a third film, a series for HBO Max… and more?

‘Dune’ has been only the beginning. Denis Villeneuve achieved what many believed impossible: adapt Frank Herbert’s work with all the scale, epicness, and depth of the novels. The result, and that it had a simultaneous release in theaters and streaming, was applauded by critics and had enough box office to secure a second film, which will be shot this year and will only hit theaters next year. But it’s only the beginning.

In conversations with The Playlist, the screenwriter of ‘Dune’, Jon Spaihts, confirmed that they are already thinking about a third film: “‘Messiah of Dune’ is the next book, and it’s one of three books with ‘Dune’, ‘Messiah of Dune’ and ‘Children of Dune’ that covers the lives of the characters we meet in the first novel. Then there’s a giant time jump and the saga gets weirder and more epic as it goes on. But ‘Messiah of Dune’ takes place a few years after ‘Dune’ and yes, Denis has seriously talked about making that film as well as the conclusion of the trilogy.. ‘Messiah of Dune’ is a very interesting book because, in certain aspects, it deconstructs ‘Dune’ and serves as a cautionary tale, even more than ‘Dune’, about the dangers of mixing religion and politics, the risk of following leaders charismatics and the dangerous struggle between the individual and the institutions that is always alive”.

The first ‘Dune’ movie only covers part of the first novel, while ‘Dune: Part 2’ will adapt the rest of the first book in the series of six. The writer believes that this sequel would be “a very satisfying conclusion”but also add: “We may not end this universe”.

The series for HBO Max is still running, and it might not be the only one

In fact, it also mentions ‘Dune: The Sisterhood’, the spin-off series for HBO Max that had already been mentioned in 2019, before the future of the saga depended on the unstable audiovisual situation with the pandemic. Jon Spaihts confirms that the project is going ahead but he is no longer involved because he is too busy with ‘Dune: Part 2’ and, beware, “looking into other cinematic perspectives for the ‘Dune’ universe, which we’re still talking about and can’t say much about. But it’s a very rich world to play in and I think it’s full of storytelling opportunities in every direction”. Our exploration of the Frank Herbert universe has only just begun.

‘Dune: Part 2’ will be released in theaters on October 20, 2023.