[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Dune: Part Two, as well as the second, third, and other books in the Dune series.]
With the release (and almost universally positive reception) of Dune: Part Two, fans of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel can finally breathe easy knowing that Denis Villeneuve’s sprawling, brutalist take on the “unfilmable” book is complete.
But in its closing minutes, Villeneuve zigs where most other adaptations zag. Rather than positioning Paul Muad’Dib’s (Timothee Chalamet) successful overthrow of the Imperium that doomed his family to genocide as a rousing victory for the forces of good, Part Two practically builds to a cliffhanger.
In the film, Paul’s prophecy of a “holy war” — this version shifts uncomfortably at words like jihad — comes to pass; Hans Zimmer’s score lacquers his righteous journey with a booming layer of tragedy and doom. Yet while Paul may have won the fight for control of the Spice, the Great Houses of the Landsraad refuse to acknowledge his primacy as the new Emperor of the Known Universe (with Florence Pugh’s Princess Irulan at his side, a political marriage meant to solidify his claim to power). His legions of Fremen warriors, now fanatical in their devotion to him, set sail on spaceships to bring his message to the universe — with a threat of annihilation. Hardly the stuff of the typical hero’s journey.
But it tracks with Villeneuve’s plans to further expand his take on Dune: Going beyond the first novel is a feat that only the 2003 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Children of Dune has attempted (to respectable results, considering its basic-cable budget). Yet in laying these bittersweet seeds at the end of Dune: Part Two, Villeneuve makes plain his desire to adapt more of Herbert’s Dune stories, which span up to six books written by the author himself and dozens more co-written by Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson.
Part Two’s changes promise deviations from the second book in the series, Dune Messiah, even as Villeneuve seems set to honor that book’s deconstruction of Paul Atreides’ hero’s journey, in a presumptive third and final film in his take on the story.
Warner Bros. has yet to greenlight a third film, but given Part Two’s stellar box office performance, the odds are decent. So what can we expect in Dune: Part Three? What has Villeneuve already changed from the books, and what wackadoo things could happen if the series gets a fourth, fifth, or even sixth entry? Let’s theorize.
Update – April 4th: Per Variety, a third Dune movie is officially in development.
