Denis Villeneuve, Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet “Super Enthusiastic” For ‘Dune: Messiah’

UPDATE: “Dune: Part Two” might not even be released yet, but director Denis Villeneuve and stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya say they're "super enthusiastic" for Part 3 aka “Dune: Messiah.”

Speaking to Total Film, Villeneuve describes the first two instalments of Dune as a "complete" story, before going on to suggest that Part 2's "heartbreaking" conclusion could set up events further explored in another sequel.

All of the elements are there, but I think the movie adaptation is more tragic than the book. The way that Part Two ends… it would create a total balance and equilibrium to finish Paul’s storyline in what we could say in Part Three."

"Denis is an artist, and doesn't like to share things until he's got it figured out. So whenever he's ready, we’re all keenly ready to hear what his vision is," Zendaya says of ‘Messiah.’

"The idea excites me very much," adds Chalamet. "If the time and opportunity comes to complete the story with Messiah, I think we're all super-enthusiastic about that."

EARLIER: Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” isn’t being released until March 1, but there’s already been an inordinate amount of buzz for this film that it does look as though Warner Bros will be carrying on with a third one, “Dune: Messiah.”

‘Messiah’ would be the trilogy capper, and Jeff Sneider, via his newsletter, has stated that the film has already been greenlit by WB with a 2027 release date in mind.

For this third film to come into fruition, you would obviously need Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet coming back to reprise their lead roles. Zendaya was recently asked about ‘Messiah’, and she confirms her total interest in returning for the threequel.

Would we be down? I mean of course. Any time Denis calls it’s a yes from me. I’m excited to see what happens. I started ‘Messiah’ and I was like, ‘Woah, I’m only shooting the first movie. Let me just go back to the first one.’ It’s so much to take in, but there’s no better hands with better care and love for it than Denis.

WB is already seeing ‘Part Two’ as a home run, and internally, there have been projections of the film opening north of $100 million. So, there’s no reason to believe that it won’t be a success.

Late last year, Villeneuve had confirmed that the ‘Dune: Messiah’ script was “almost finished,” but that he was going to be taking a break after ‘Part Two’ to make another film, before delving back into the world of Arrakis.

If Villeneuve does end up making “Dune Messiah,” it’ll be the first time an adaptation of Herbert’s stories went beyond the first “Dune” novel. ‘Messiah’ is very different, in terms of scope and story, than “Dune” — it’s a much shorter book as well.

Looking into the future, Herbert’s series does go beyond ‘Messiah,’ but I’d be shocked if Villeneuve decided to adapt the other books, which are much weirder and might not lend themselves as well to big screen adapting. ‘Messiah’ always felt like the completion of Paul’s journey.