The Dune Franchise Might Be Going Even Further Than Fans Thought

The Dune franchise might be approaching its third film in the traditional science fiction trilogy setup, but that doesn’t mean that fans won’t be seeing any more of the widely popular films, as a recent report suggests plans are evolving behind the scenes.

Dune has been popular with science fiction buffs for decades now but has suffered from something quite like a curse. Despite myriad attempts, no adaptation of the iconic franchise for film or television was able to appease fans or garner commercial success for itself, leading to many decrying the book series as impossible to adapt. This was the case until Dennis Villeneuve stepped in and put out 2021’s Dune, a big-budget theatrical adaptation that became an instant classic. With the success of the first film and a subsequent Dune sequel film that made the list of everyone’s favorite sci-fi movies of 2024, there weren’t too many shocked or disappointed fans when it was announced that a third film was on the way from the same director that cracked the code on bringing the franchise to the masses.

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While Villeneuve has revealed plot details & the reasoning behind a third Dune film after the conclusion of Part II, a recent report suggests that there’s even more in the works beyond the third and (formerly assumed) final film of Villeneuve’s planned trilogy. It‘s been revealed by well-known industry informant Daniel Richtman via his Patreon that Legendary Studios and Warner Bros. are working towards a fourth Dune film after the production of the upcoming threequel project Dune: Messiah. Other sources have also confirmed these rumblings, with World of Reel adding that current franchise headline director Denis Villeneuve won’t be returning to adapt more of the Dune books following his work on Dune: Messiah. This is purportedly due to the director having a low opinion of the rest of the Dune source material, but there’s no word yet on whether or not any others involved could be out of the picture.

The source material’s anticlimactic nature when compared to the events of Dune II has been highlighted as the one major problem Villeneuve must overcome while adapting Dune: Messiah, and it seems that the studio and production company behind the franchise have found their way around this impending issues. By letting Villeneuve stray even further from the source material under the guise of creative freedom, a fourth Dune film could strike out on its own with a wholly original story carried more by the audience’s loyalty to the on-screen characters than interest in the book series. While Dune has certainly become far more popular with the advent of a commercially successful adaptation, it would be wrong to assume that any of the millions of new fans drawn to the films care at all about the books, assuming they bothered to read the books beyond the first two to begin with.

Without Villeneuve, there’s a real chance that Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. run into the same difficulties that kept Dune from hitting it big for so many decades. While the new franchise has already been firmly established, pushing forward without the creative force behind that might prove risky. Other than the main issue of insurmountable fan expectation and creative freedom, his dislike of the franchise’s quality is part of the reason why Villeneuve refuses to make a Star Wars movie, and besides Dune: Messiah, the rest of the Dune book franchise seems to be just as unappealing to him. Whether or not he could be convinced to come back for a fourth film is unknown, but if the plan is to go totally off the rails and do his own thing, there’s a chance he’ll return. Villeneuve’s involvement would also be a close assurance of uniform quality and that most of the cast will agree to return for more films. More films might also be an answer to the underperformance of the franchise’s spinoff project Dune: Prophesy, which many fans expected to be the avenue to adapting some of the less savory books on the small screen instead of at the theaters.

Rumors aside, nothing will be made public until the third film is in sight, so fans will have to wait for Dune: Messiah to hit theaters before they get concrete confirmation on a fourth film. With confirmation that the prequel series Dune: Prophesy will be getting a second season, fans can keep experiencing the expansive lore of the franchise on streaming while the theatrical offerings are still being sorted.

The Dune franchise is available to stream on Netflix.

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Dune is a science fiction series written by author Frank Herbet. Set in the far future, it follows the story of character Paul Atreides living in a socially oppressive galactic society. The Atreides family acquires management of the planet Arrakis, which has the melange, a drug that enhances human life. Dune’s full story is told over its many different sequels. 

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Source: Daniel Richtman/Patreon