DUNE: MESSIAH Gets New Filming Timeline
By Movieguide® Contributor
Things are kicking into gear for the next DUNE installment.
Shooting and principal photography will begin this summer for a Dec. 18, 2026, release date, per Collider.
The movie “will finish the Paul Atreides arc,” director Villeneuve previously promised.
Based on the book by Frank Herbert, DUNE: MESSIAH takes place over ten years after the events in DUNE: PART TWO. The movie will explore Emperor Paul Atreides’ resolve to do what he believes is the right thing, despite causing the deaths of million of people.
Zendaya, who plays Chani in the franchise, has a busy schedule this year. She’s supposed to appear in EUPHORIA Season 3, the fourth SPIDER-MAN movie and a movie called ODYSSEY. It’s uncertain whether her heavy schedule will affect her role in DUNE: MESSIAH.
READ MORE: DUNE DIRECTOR READY FOR THIRD INSTALLMENT: ‘I WANT TO GO BACK TO ARRAKIS’
Legendary Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures have not confirmed which actors will be in the movie. However, Villeneuve said the main cast does return.
Timothée Chalamet can be expected to resume his role as Paul, Zendaya as Chani, Florence Pugh a Princess Irulan and Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia. The director hinted the latter two characters will have larger roles in the new movie.
“They have to return. They are with the main cast when it happens. And more worms. What can I say?” he shrugged.
There’s no update for DUNE: MESSIAH’s filming locations yet. Both of the previous films were filmed in Origo Studios, Hungary, Jordan and Abu Dhabi.
DUNE won a Movieguide® Teddy Bear Award® for the Best Movie for Mature Audiences, and DUNE: PART TWO was nominated for the same award this year.
Though Villeneuve has made it clear this is the last DUNE movie he wants to undertake, he stated the third installment is “not like a trilogy.”
“I think that it would be a good idea for me to make sure that, in MESSIAH, there are the seeds in the project if someone wants to do something else afterwards, because they are beautiful books,” he said in September.
“They are more difficult to adapt. They become more and more esoteric. It’s a bit more tricky to adapt, but I’m not closing the door. I will not do it myself, but it could happen with someone else,” he said. So it’s possible a fourth DUNE movie could be developed.
READ MORE: WHAT WENT INTO CREATING THESE ‘CHALLENGING’ DUNE SCENES?
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