This Is Why ‘Dune 3’ Will Be The Final Movie Installment

The first part of this article contains no spoilers for Dune: Part 3. The very end of this article contains spoilers for Dune: Part 3. We’ll leave all major spoilers underneath a spoiler alert marker.

With the blockbuster success of Dune: Part 1 and Dune: Part 2, it’s easy to guess that Dune: Part 3 will also be a massive hit upon its eventual release. With that being said, however, why wouldn’t the series continue onwards?

There are six different Dune books to work with, so director Denis Villeneuve has lots of material to continue the Dune films should he so choose. However, the director, Dennis Villeneuve, has already stated that this is something he won’t be doing. The third part of Dune (sometimes referred to as Dune: Messiah or Dune 3) will be the final film.

Though Villeneuve was open to filming a third Dune movie, the first two films were his original goal when he picked up the books to be adapted. Regardless, Villeneuve never planned to stick with the Dune franchise forever. In fact, it’s the third film — not the second — that will harbor the perfect resolution to the entire franchise, despite the twelve-year time skip that happens between the second and third movies.

Dune: Part 3 will see the return of the same cast as the original film, giving Villeneuve the perfect way to continue the first two films. As the universe of Dune continues to expand beyond the first two books, however, continuing the vein of the first two movies becomes more and more difficult. This makes the third film the best place to leave off plot-wise.

Without spoilers, the third film has the most organic resolution for Villeneuve to work with. While there’s no telling exactly how he’ll end the franchise, it’s clear that the ending should be relatively satisfying for Dune viewers, especially compared to the first and second films.

Villeneuve has said that, while he won’t be directing any additional Dune films after adapting Messiah, he doesn’t oppose anyone else who wants to pick up the franchise later on. It’s possible that we’ll see even more Dune movies launching in the future, though it could be a while before they become adapted.

The rest of this article contains spoilers for the ending of Dune: Part 3. 

Spoiler alert incoming: The reason why Dune 3 is the perfect fit for a third and final movie is because the plot resolves with both Paul and Chani’s deaths. Ironically, this provides the film with a very peaceful ending point, considering the two have surviving children who will carry on their family’s empire. This makes Dune: Part 3 the final movie that can canonically use the cast from the first two films, giving the trilogy a fully resolved ending.

Though there are more Dune books after Messiah, they abandon the titular characters we’ve come to know and love throughout the first two movies. This is why the director sees Dune: Part 3 as a fitting official end to the series. Though he’s not opposed to someone else picking up the rest of the Dune books for adaptation, it’s likely that any potential future series will be approached very differently, marketed as a semi-new series rather than a direct continuation of the first three Dune films.