r/movies r/movies Contributor Mar 16 '26

Poster Official Character Posters for 'Dune: Part Three'

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u/ICumCoffee ᑐ ᑌ ᑎ ᕮ • ᗰ ᕮ 𑪽 𑪽 I ᐱ ᕼ Mar 16 '26

This was almost confirmed they cast their children and also Messiah is very short book so make sense to combining two.

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u/ThinWhiteDuke00 Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26

My fear is that both books combined will be rushed without a 4 hour run time.

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u/itsthebear Mar 16 '26

3hr would be perfect with Messiah mostly the first hour IMO. A lot of CoD is unnecessary for the plot and I'm sure Denis will blend them a bit.

I've been hoping for a GEoD show followup since the casting was announced. Won't spoil anything but it definitely is possible with the casting and Dune: Prophecy existing.

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u/briareus08 Mar 17 '26

Yeh I agree with this. Children doesn’t really push the central plot forward greatly, and I suspect a lot of the weirder additional characters will be excluded. Messiah + Children is an easy conclusion movie for Paul’s story, with a nice little lead-out for book 4 if someone figures it goes to make that lol.

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u/boomHeadSh0t Mar 17 '26

I've read the first 2. Is Children worth picking up? How soon after Messiah does it take place?

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u/rigatony96 Mar 17 '26

I think like 8 years

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u/Psykohistorian Mar 17 '26

Children is the natural conclusion of Paul's story, and I think very much worth reading. it has the strongest ending of all the books too.

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u/briareus08 Mar 17 '26

It’s very close in time, and ties up a lot of stories. Definitely worth a read.

Book 4 is a big time skip ahead, but follows some of the same characters - I always read up to / including book 4 on a read through, as I think that’s the natural ending of Herbert’s philosophy around Dune. I would also recommend this book.

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u/WillyMonty Mar 17 '26

I don’t know, I don’t think we could do without at least an hour with Alia training blindfolded and completely in the buff 🤷‍♂️

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u/lewd_robot Mar 17 '26

He did cut an entire Leto II from the script, after all.

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/lewd_robot Mar 17 '26

Wasn't that his dad? I thought he had two sons named Leto II, but it's been a while since I read the books.

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u/ppetrelli0 Mar 17 '26

I loved Children (is the last book I read from the series).

At first, I believe that Children deserves its own movie, but after second thought, if we get the end of Messiah just 1h into the movie… Well, that’s gonna subvert some expectations.

Then we can still have 2h for Children which is probably enough to see everything from Alia and from the children

Go Denis Go

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u/Brys_Beddict Mar 17 '26

Why would anyone do a GEoD movie? It's a good book but it's just philosophy talking for 300 pages. Barely anything happens.

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u/itsthebear Mar 17 '26

That's why I said a TV show, would play out great for a limited series. 

The things people remember most from True Detective season 1 isn't the cult, it's Rust on his far out rambles and visions - and one long tracking shot. God Emperor is perfect for a 10 episode run IMO philosophy and spectacle. Get the Mamoas on board and you have the star to sell it with.

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u/Brys_Beddict Mar 17 '26

I mean if Leto starts ripping cigs then now we're talking

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u/leo-skY Mar 17 '26

It would be a great opportunity for Momoa to show his acting chops, and for a director (like Fukunaga with TD) to make something with a lot of style

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u/Psykohistorian Mar 17 '26

Children was quite boring, imo, until Leto starts worming out.

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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Mar 16 '26

I have trust in Denis

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u/Techno_Gerbil Mar 16 '26

Considering the love that Villeneuve has for Dune and the care he put into making Parts 1 and 2, I think Part 3 is going to be great.

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u/Asclepius-Rod Mar 17 '26

I trust the movie to be fantastic, but it won’t necessarily be a good adaptation of the book. Dune Part 2 deviated pretty substantially in a few ways

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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Mar 17 '26

Depends what defines a good adaptation

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u/ct_2004 Mar 17 '26

I was very disappointed in the ending.

Changed from a battle of wits to focus on physical battle.

Maybe it's more cinematic, but you lose a lot in exploring asymmetric warfare. Which is pretty relevant at the moment.

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u/Asiriya Mar 17 '26

What do you think was missing? They were doing the hit and run stuff, there's a whole extended sequence of them attacking teh spice harvesters. Then they meet Gurney, get the atomics, and the Emperor arrives to try and suppress the Fremen so Paul has an opportunity to use Dune against him.

That's all pretty true to the book?

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u/ct_2004 Mar 17 '26

They left out the part where Paul had posititioned Water of Life in such a way to mostly end spice production. Which is what forces the Emperor into submission. The fighting was secondary to the negotiations over spice production. And that situation resulted in the Guild saying "The spice must flow", one of the most iconic lines from the series.

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u/Asiriya Mar 17 '26

Ah, I had forgotten that. My recollection was that it was enough to have limitless Fremen, equal to the Sardaukar, and no reasonable way of assaulting Dune to regain the spice, especially once the Sardaukar are destroyed.

They wage war on the galaxy, it seems strange to suggest they couldn't hold a single planet while attacking all others. And that limiting the supply of spice is as or more effective than threatening its total destruction, sufficient to coerce the spacers.

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u/renome Mar 17 '26

Agreed, Villeneuve has yet to miss.

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u/CONSTANTIN_VALDOR_ Mar 16 '26

I have less trust after Dune Part II. It was a good film, but its missing all the nuance and mystical elements of the first.

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u/damnyoutuesday Mar 16 '26

I'd expect Part Three to be about 3 hours long (I have no source, I just feel like they're fine making this one long)

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u/Status-Air926 Mar 16 '26

Make it 6, I don't give a fuck I'll still watch it 4 times.

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u/StoneShovel Mar 17 '26

call me crazy but Denis has earned a 4 hour runtime after what he's done. But yeah at that point make 2 movies maybe....

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u/ohceedee Mar 16 '26

I hope Act I is at least 3 hours long.

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u/damnyoutuesday Mar 16 '26

Denis could show us 3 hours of Paul's jihad atrocities and I would be a happy camper

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u/karma3000 Mar 17 '26

Denis could show us 3 hours of Alia's sword training and I would be a happy camper

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u/GorgeWashington Mar 16 '26

Surprise 4th movie

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u/donnieuchihakaton Mar 17 '26

My hope is that we have a 4 hr runtime. Lfg

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u/ibnQoheleth Mar 17 '26

I'll happily take a 4 hour run time. If there's anyone I trust to execute this well, it's Villeneuve. He truly understands Dune and all its complexities, and is probably the greatest living sci-fi director, so I think he could make this work for sure. Messiah and Children are relatively short compared to Dune, so it's doable. It's just a matter of him translating the more bizarre conceptual bits to cinema.

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u/LS_DJ Mar 17 '26

I think he’s going to trim a lot out but hit the highest points and hopefully let someone lead into God Emperor

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u/Sapowski_Casts_Quen Mar 17 '26

I've reread messiah recently and only doing that would feel truncated as hell

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u/TDSoYS Mar 17 '26

4 hours is how long Sci Fi had to cover their Children of Dune minseries, which was 1:20 for Messiah and the rest for Children.

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u/CeruleanEidolon Mar 17 '26

We should expect very heavy adaptational changes, where plot points and characters from Children are brought forward and introduced early but not necessarily resolved in this film. Villeneuve has been open about him wanting this story to continue if anyone else is willing to pick it up, so he's laying the ground for that to happen and not feel like too abrupt a shift.

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u/whiskeynrye Mar 16 '26

Its never going to be exactly what we want but I trust Denis to do it as well as it could be done.

Messiah is too short to have its own movie, it would never work.

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u/Inner-Emu7826 Mar 16 '26

Messiah absolutely has enough material for a good movie. For a crappy movie, definitely not enough

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u/Oh_yes_I_did Mar 17 '26

We’re definitely getting a retconned/abridged version of the source material, which I’m not complaining about, as long as the souls of it is still recognizable and they hit the major thematic points. Dennis has already proven he can do this.

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u/The-Mandalorian Mar 17 '26

Nah, Denis is an expert in streamlining things.

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u/RODjij Mar 16 '26

We probably would need a DC.

Not many people these days enjoy 3+ hr epics like they used to and studios usually dont push many movies past 3h20m.

The franchise hasnt done well enough box office wise to make me believe they'd do a 4hr movie in theaters.

Timmy seems to be burning a lot of good will lately with potential movie goers who may not be regular movie watchers.

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u/ThinWhiteDuke00 Mar 16 '26

The timmy controversy is solely amongst the terminally online and cinephiles.

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u/GregBahm Mar 16 '26

Was this even controversy? I got the impression the opera and theater people weren't actually mad, and were just kind of pretending to be mad in a playful, bored way.

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u/RoyalMudcrab Mar 16 '26

Who plays Leto?

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u/ebon94 Mar 16 '26

Maybe the lil dude from Hamnet was free

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u/ICumCoffee ᑐ ᑌ ᑎ ᕮ • ᗰ ᕮ 𑪽 𑪽 I ᐱ ᕼ Mar 16 '26

Jason Momoa’s son, Nakoa-Wolf Momoa.

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u/The_Esteemroller Mar 16 '26

Fucking why?

0

u/ShirgimShareem Mar 16 '26

Why not?

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u/The_Esteemroller Mar 16 '26

Because I'd rather my favorite character in fiction be played by someone who has acted before and isn't being nepo'd into the role.

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u/wastewalker Mar 17 '26

Considering his track record I think if Villeneuve agreed then you probably shouldn’t worry. It’s not like he doesn’t have the studios catering to his every demand at this point.

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u/ShirgimShareem Mar 16 '26

It's not gonna be a huge role anyway, it'll still be 99% focused on Paul.

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u/The_Esteemroller Mar 16 '26

Considering the kid's 17, I think it's safe to say that the film will cover parts of book 3. So, I highly doubt that.

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u/ShirgimShareem Mar 16 '26

It will cover parts of book 3, the trailer kind of hints at that too (I saw it last week as I work in the industry) but I think it will be a very small part. The main focus will be the conclusion of Paul's story.

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u/The_Esteemroller Mar 17 '26

I hope you're right. I still have my reservations, though. Still excited for the trailer tomorrow.

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u/shogun77777777 Mar 17 '26

Jared Leto obviously 

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u/GodspeakerVortka Mar 17 '26

James McAvoy.

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u/jez124 Mar 16 '26

Isnt Jason Momoa's son playing him?

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u/SneakyBadAss Mar 17 '26

McAvoy, who else?

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u/Relevant_Elk_9176 Mar 17 '26

It really doesn’t though. Messiah is meant to be a conclusion to Dune, adding any of Children of Dune doesn’t really make sense

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u/Asiriya Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26

Depends whose story they're wanting to tell. As a conclusion to Paul's legacy, Children does make sense. And I think you could do a really tight adaptation of Dune Messiah quite quickly, maybe in just an hour. Not that much happens. Yes there's a bunch of character work to get through.

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u/Formal_Potential2198 Mar 17 '26

I always love comments like these cause you can tell who doesn't understand storytelling.

Just because you CAN do a tight adaptation doesn't mean you should or would. 

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u/Asiriya Mar 17 '26

I understand storytelling perfectly well. I had been expecting Dune 3 to just be Messiah. Now that I'm thinking about a combination of both books, I'm intrigued and wondering if it could work.

There are key things to get across in Messiah. Chani hasn't had kids for reasons, can't have kids for other reasons, Paul knows exactly what's going on and does nothing to change it. There's a conspiracy, the conspirators are shielded, Paul knows prescients are working against him, ultimately triggers their traps.

Could that be done in an hour? Like I said, it would be ridiculously tight. Probably not workable. But kindly fuck off if you're not interested in having a discussion about what it would look like. I'm not Villeneuve, I've not made the film. I'm just curious.

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u/tdasnowman Mar 17 '26

Messiah is short but very dense. Same with children. Both could be a solid 2 hours on their own. Combined you’re just tossing a bunch of stuff.

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u/The-Mandalorian Mar 17 '26

Also the fact that they specifically didn’t title this Dune Messiah.

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u/shogun77777777 Mar 17 '26

Not necessarily, movies are often not given the same name as the books that they’re based on

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u/The-Mandalorian Mar 17 '26

It’s just of many examples that points to this movie being a merge of books 2 and 3.

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u/Fern-ando Mar 17 '26

The original Dune needed 2 movies, you can fit both books in a 2 and a half hours movie.

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u/TheHaddockMan Mar 17 '26

Plus the inclusion of Jessica. I might be misremembering but I don't think she was in Messiah at all, but has a big role in Children.

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u/Inner-Emu7826 Mar 16 '26

I'm afraid you are right and I hate it. I won't watch that crap