Denis Villeneuve has recently commented on the development stage of Dune: Messiah, the film which “will finish the Paul Atreides arc.” Find out why the Dune: Messiah will begin filming in 2026.
Dune: Part Two released back in March of this year, grossing $700M at the worldwide box office after high critical acclaim from both audiences and critics, as well as having a shot at this year’s awards circuit. At the time of release, Denis Villeneuve commented on how he wanted to step back a bit and wait some time before doing the third film in the trilogy, as he was working on both films for 6 years non-stop. He also added one last comment: “If ever I do Dune: Messiah, [it’s] because it’s going to be better than Part Two. Otherwise, I don’t do it.”
This left fans at the time thinking on how we would be getting the third film around the end of the decade in 2029, but Denis has had a change of plans after the film’s massive success. Earlier today, he told Deadline that his break is “over” and that he will be going back behind the camera faster than he initially thought. The filmmaker added “I’m in the writing zone right now.” When he was asked when the film could begin filming he added, “2026”, even though he had previously said that movies take a lot of time to get made so it’s best not to say the shooting commencement date out loud.
But Why Is ‘Dune: Messiah’ Filming In 2026?
It’s speculated that the film will be beginning production in 2026 due to possible scheduling issues with Zendaya or Greig Fraser. We’ve known that Zendaya will be returning for Spider-Man 4 and Euphoria Season 3, so perhaps that has put a slight delay on when Dune: Messiah begins filming.
There could be a similar case with cinematographer Greig Fraser, with recent comments from The Batman director, Matt Reeves, saying that he wasn’t aware whether Greig would shoot The Batman 2 or not (which begins production early next year) because he might have Dune: Messiah on his plate.
Regardless, Dune: Messiah having a production start in 2026 and possibly releasing early 2027 is much more ideal than having a 2029 release like Denis’ old comments seemed to hint at. And even though movies take a lot of time to handle in terms of pre-production, production, and post-production, there’s still a December 2026 release slot for Warner Bros. Pictures, so it’s not out of the impossible for Dune: Messiah to end up there.
Dune: Messiah will be starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, and more.
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