Dune: Part 3, the confirmed third installment in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy is needed to tie off important arcs and give viewers a satisfying ending, but the title is misleading. Dune and Dune: Part 2 trace the rise of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) to an assumed seat as emperor of the known universe and as the Fremen prophet Lisan al Gaib. Based on Frank Herbert’s second book, Dune Messiah, Dune: Part 3 will deviate greatly from the Dune franchise up to this point, giving viewers a more complete view of the expansive sci-fi world created in the six-book series.

With favorable reviews for Dune: Part 2, Director Denis Villeneuve has proven himself faithful to the original Dune stories in many ways. However, Villeneuve has also deviated from the books, often leaving out the wackier elements of the Dune universe in favor of a more grounded story that focuses on character motivation over the shock value of Herbert’s world. One-to-one novel adaptations, particularly for fantastical subject matter, can be impossible to achieve given screen time requirements among other factors, but Villeneuve’s Dune 3 adaptation has many ideas it needs to explore.

Dune Messiah Should Not Be Considered “Dune: Part 3”

Adopting The Title Of Frank Herbert’s Book Would Be Better

Set twelve years after Dune, Herbert’s Dune Messiah sets the stage for a different kind of story. The book begins with a drastically different transition from that of Dune: Part 2, which took its start immediately after the end of Dune, and sped up the timeline from that of the novels. Paul’s ending in Dune: Part 2 has him starting a holy war, but he will enter Dune: Part 3 after the fulfillment of his religious prophecies and at a different stage of his rule. To better characterize this new era, Herbert’s original book title, Dune Messiah would be more fitting for the film.

Messiah also introduces characters not yet seen in Dune, bringing the focus away from Paul’s coming-of-age story and to his rule as emperor and relationships with characters like Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and Chani (Zendaya). If Villeneuve chooses to include them, characters such as Leto Atreides II and Edric of the Guild Navigators have the potential to further shift the tone of the Dune franchise and ground the story in Herbert’s obscure universe. Calling such a drastic shift the third part of the epic is misleading, giving viewers the impression that the film will follow the lead of its predecessors.

Dune 3 Still Needs To Happen After Part 2’s Ending

There Are Many Questions To Answer In A Third Installment

From the position of the Bene Gesserit and the unborn Alia Atreides (Anya Taylor-Joy) to the great houses’ foreboding rejection of Paul’s rule, there are many questions Villeneuve needs to answer in Dune’s third installment. For one, Chani’s fate at the end of Dune: Part 2 is still a mystery, deviating from her passive acceptance of Paul’s ascension in Herbert’s novel to, instead, having her abandon his side. Changes like this, and others, have left viewers wondering how exactly the third movie will capture the dark essence of Dune Messiah.

Dune: Part 3 has the potential to build upon Villeneuve’s epic vision with even more mind-blowing visuals and deeper dives into the characters’ stories with actors Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy posed to take on more significant roles. In order to accomplish this, though, while also staying true to the novels, Villeneuve will need to adequately differentiate the story from the first two films, conveying the starkly different worlds they take place in.