This article contains spoilers for Messiah of the dunes And Dune children.Dune: Third part Will seek apparently the end of the extremely acclaimed science fiction trilogy of Denis Villeneuve, inspired by the controversial novel by Frank Herbert Messiah of the dunes. The story takes place several years after the victory of Paul Atreids at the end of Dune: Part 2While his enemies conspired to end his tyrannical reign.
There are countless theories on Dune 3 floating around the internet, but Villeneuve remained unusually silent on its next continuation, which should be released in December 2026. The history of Messiah of the dunes is famous difficult to adapt, which means that Third film by Villeneuve can Do not be as cut and dried as the previous twowhich ended up being fairly loyal and authentic adaptations.
Dune 3 incorporating dune children would be difficult to do well
Following the announcement that Villeneuve’s third film would be titled Dune: Part 3Many have started to speculate that it is not uniquely be an adaptation of Messiahbut rather a combination of two Dune Stories in a row. If this is the case, it logically follows that Dune: Part 3 could incorporate certain elements of Dune children in his story.
Dune children is the third book in Frank Herbert’s series, and, historically, one of the most confronted. The book takes place nine years after Messiah (which itself takes place twelve years after Dune), And Follows the young children of Paul Atreids As they try to restore power to the Imperium and to protect Arkis ecology.
The main credibility behind this theory is that Messiah of the dunes is simply a very small book compared to Dune; The story is quite thin, and a large part of its narration comes from moments of quiet character and muffled politics. He does not have the epic scale of Herbert’s first novel, so it would be logical to borrow certain aspects from a heavier book of the plot like Dune children.
The main problem of this approach is that Dune children There is many years later Messiah of the dunesAnd it would take new readjustments to align the stories. Leto II and Ghanima, the protagonists of Children of Dune, I am not yet born in Villeneuve’s films, and they will probably not be there before the end of Messiah of the dunes.
This means that all the scenarios involving Leto and Ghanima are essentially impossible to adapt until the birth of Paul’s children and Paul’s children can‘t to have been born until characters like Scytale, Edric and Hayt were introduced into Dune: Third part. A film is simply not enough time to present all these characters – And that ignores the blatant problem of time jumping nine years.
The only aspect of Dune children This could be introduced in Dune: Part 3 is the Ecological Transformation of Arrakis. As planned by Liet-Kynes in the first book, Fremen manage to bring water and plants to Arrakis reliably In Dune children Following the universal jihad of Emperor Paul. However, the Fremen quickly realize that their terraformation of the planet kills the sandworms.
It would be an interesting secondary intrigue for Villeneuve to present Dune: Third partBut the problem is that it cannot be completely resolved until Leto II was born. Just like Paul, Leto II has visions of a so-called “golden path” which will bring stability to Arrakis, and This This is how he manages to protect worms and spices.
Without having letto to resolve this secondary intrigue, it does not have sense to include it at all. Dune: Third part would not just feel finished, and there is no confirmation that Dune 4 happens at all. It would be a huge shame to see this incredible end of trilogy without resolution to this sub -intry, so the safest decision is to stick exclusively Messiah of the dunes.
The Messiah is a perfect end to the story of Paul Atreids
Beyond the logistical difficulties of this decision, there is a simple fact Messiah of the dunes The perfect end point (for now) of the franchise: This book marks the conclusion of Paul Atreid’s script. Although there are brilliant sub -intrigues in Herbert’s subsequent novels, they mainly follow a new set of characters. This change of perspective would be disorienting in the films of Villeneuve.
There is a secular debate to know if Paul Atreides is a hero or a bad guy, and Messiah of the dunesThe end is the ideal way to recognize both sides of this complex character. After being blinded by an atomic assault on Arrakis, Paul obeys the law and is exiled in the desertSecuring his inheritance among the Fremen while accepting the consequences of his violent past.
It is easy to imagine this moment as the perfect end for Villeneuve Dune trilogy, and in advance in Dune childrenThe history of the assistance would only reduce the impact of this highlighting point. Although Paul technically returns to the third book as a preacherIt is much easier to imagine this self -exile as the true conclusion of your character bow.
Although it is certainly tempting to draw from the heavier narration of the intrigue of Dune childrenNothing leads to Villeneuve to make an equally exciting film purely Messiah. The book is filled with plots, secrets, alliances and betrayals that can be less heavy than the first two Dune Films, but will prove to be very gratifying for an audience of return who want to see the consequences of the victory of Paul Atreids.
