Here's What Convinced Denis Villeneuve To Make Dune: Part Three His Next Movie

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After seeing the gorgeous, hype-building trailer for "Dune: Part Three" that dropped earlier today, it seems like a no-brainer why filmmaker Denis Villeneuve would choose to return to the world of "Dune." After all, the film's cast is super stacked, there's an opportunity to further build out a vision born of Frank Herbert's massively influential novels, and the first two installments are regarded as among the best sci-fi films of recent years. With all this, one could easily assume that Villeneuve would be content making "Dune" movies for the rest of his career. Which is why it's a little surprising to learn that Villeneuve was initially planning on giving the Known Universe a break after the release of 2024's "Dune: Part Two."

To be clear, it was never Villeneuve's intention to abandon "Dune" completely; during the press tour for "Part Two," he often mentioned his desire to make a sequel based on 1969's "Dune Messiah." Yet the filmmaker was simply too tired from adapting Herbert's vast original novel into two movies. As he said during a press conference in South Korea on the eve of the release of "Part Two": "For my mental sanity I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet that I love." It just so happens that this dream was one Villeneuve couldn't shake, as he confessed during a Q&A event in Los Angeles that I attended. 

Villeneuve described how images of "Dune: Part Three" kept recurring in his dreams, waking him at night, a phenomenon that eventually led the director to set aside his initial plans and head right back to Arrakis. Thus, "Part Three" is the result of Villeneuve's persistent dreams of "Dune," which is highly fitting for the series.

Denis Villeneuve felt obligated to the audience to make 'Dune: Part Three'

While Denis Villeneuve was always hopeful that he'd get to return to "Dune" after finishing "Part Two," it's true that he wasn't entirely aware of the audience's response to the films, given how "Part One" was part of Warner Bros.' awkward dual theatrical and streaming release strategy from 2021. As he explained during Monday's Q&A event, it wasn't until the release of "Part Two" and seeing the film's reception around the world that Villeneuve understood that there was an appetite for more "Dune" beyond his own:

"...When we released 'Part One,' it was at the end of the pandemic. I was not really in contact with the audience. And when we released 'Part Two,' I received that wave of excitement and love from Part One, and people wanted to see 'Part Two,' and the way the movie was received everywhere in the world [...] It was that kind of roller coaster like that around the world where we see an excitement, and I felt an appetite for the third movie that I was not expecting. You know when you, as a filmmaker, you make a series of movies, you are in a relationship with the audience. And I felt a responsibility to finish the story."

While Villeneuve's "Dune: Part One" and "Part Two" splendidly adapt Frank Herbert's original "Dune" novel and could have hypothetically stopped there, the filmmaker's interest in the rest of the "Dune" story — specifically the saga of Paul Atreides — is seen in the open-endedness of both films, particularly the cliffhanger ending of "Part Two." Thanks to making the movies this way, it is true that Villeneuve owed the audience at least a continuation. As the marketing campaign for "Part Three" promises, we're getting Villeneuve's climactic statement.

Villeneuve's subconscious wouldn't let go of 'Dune'

Although he understood that "Part Three" would eventually have to be made after seeing the reception to "Part Two," Denis Villeneuve was initially adamant that he should take a break from Arrakis for a time. That all changed when his subconscious refused to let go of "Dune," as he explained during the Q&A:

"I went back home. I said to to my crew, 'I'm taking a break. That's it. Bye-bye.' And I went back home and I kept awaking in the middle of the night with those images. I was supposed to do another movie in the meantime, but the image of Dune: Part Three inspired by Dune Messiah kept coming back, kept coming back. And I said, 'Oh, all right, let's do it.'"

The idea of Villeneuve being literally haunted by dreaming of "Dune" is so perfectly Herbertesque (Herbertian?) that it almost feels made up. Yet one only needs to view the trailer to "Part Three" to see how much of Villeneuve's id is being unleashed on screen. Everything we're seeing so far, from the trailer to the film's character posters, promises something abrasive, bold, and unfiltered, which really does support Villeneuve's tale of his restless subconscious. No matter what, it's refreshing to hear a filmmaker talk about chasing their (literal) dreams with their work, rather than them simply being subjected to the demands of a franchise or IP.

In this way, Villeneuve's "Dune" journey has finally crossed over with David Lynch's "Dune"; as is said in the latter film, "the sleeper must awaken."