Heretics is set 1,500 years after God Emperor and Chapterhouse after that. And, both of these books are set even further into the future. Even if that worked, you’ve still got Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Imagesīut, let’s say someone (not Villeneuve) decided to do either a series of films (maybe a trilogy) or a streaming TV series that adapts Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune. With those kinds of time-jumps, you can see why Villeneuve would be nervous about committing to adapting the series beyond the second book. These books aren’t like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where each installment happens right after the other. While Dune and Dune Messiah stay in a relatively close time period to each other, Children of Dune jumps ahead to the next generation, and by God Emperor of Dune, we’re 3,500 years into the future. By the fourth book, Leto II becomes the titular God Emperor of Dune - who, yes, is part human and part sandworm. The third book, Children of Dune, is unsurprisingly focused on Paul’s children, Leto II and Ghanima. And, if you haven’t read all the books, what you may not know is that by the time you get past Dune Messiah, you’re not dealing with any of the characters introduced in the first book/movie. “It’s years of work I can’t think of going further than that,” Villeneuve told IndieWire. If there is another series of Dune films after Dune Messiah, it seems those movies would go forward without Denis Villeneuve. How many movies will we get to see a sandworm? Three? Six? More? Warner Brosīecause Villeneuve’s proposed trilogy only covers the first two books out of six novels written by Frank Herbert, the next question is obvious: Could there be even more Dune movies after the hypothetical Dune Messiah? (Because of all this material, you can see why some people say this should have been a TV series.) greenlighting a trilogy, Villeneuve’s Dune series will consist of: Dune: Part One, Dune: Part Two, and Dune Messiah. Assuming the box office numbers combined with HBO Max streaming views result in Warner Bros. You could imagine that each installment of Villeneuve’s trilogy could consist of movies ( Part Two and Messiah) that are all about the same length as Dune: Part One but maybe even shorter. Essentially, the story of what happens with Paul’s reign after the events of Dune is told in far fewer pages than the first novel. However, Dune Messiah is only 336 pages total, which is probably why Villeneuve is confident he could adapt it with one film. So, Part Two will adapt roughly 300 pages of the first book. Dune: Part One will cover about 500 of those pages. Excluding the appendices and the glossary in the back, the story of the first Dune is 794 pages. The first Dune and its sequel, Dune Messiah Ryan Britt/ACEīut why would you make a trilogy out of only two books? Well, Dune Messiah is considerably shorter than Dune. “I always saw that there could be a trilogy.” “There is Dune’s second book, ‘The Messiah of Dune,’ which could make an extraordinary film,” Villeneuve said in August. In various interviews, Denis Villeneuve has repeated one sentiment many times: He wants to do a trilogy of Dune films that covers the events of Dune and Dune Messiah.
The third film in this proposed trilogy adapts the second Frank Herbert Dune book: Dune Messiah.
So, that’s two movies: Dune: Part One, the movie out this year, and, if everything goes as planned, Dune: Part Two, which finishes the first book. Dune: Part Two will, in theory, complete the story told in the novel Dune, which also focuses on Paul and Chani’s (Zendaya) relationship and their ascendency to becoming the ultimate power couple throughout the galaxy. The plan for Dune: Part Two will be to adapt the rest of the first book, which would (likely) include the characters of Feyd (an evil Harkonnen counterpart of Paul), Princess Irulan (a woman who Paul eventually marries for political convenience), the Emperor Shaddam IV, and Paul’s baby sister Alia Atreides, basically a super-baby born with memories and knowledge beyond her years. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, the most spoiler-free way to say this is: The film will end as Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) takes his place among the Fremen people of Arrakis. Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media/Getty Imagesĭune: Part One will take viewers roughly halfway through the first novel by Frank Herbert.
Timothee Chalamet and Denis Villeneuve at the Venice premiere of Dune: Part One.