After Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two was released, we all thought that we’d be done with Arrakis for some time, and even if the director had the dream of Dune: Messiah in the pipeline, it would be a while before we saw it.
However, plans changed and Villeneuve decided to do it right away. Speaking to The Wrap, Villeneuve revealed he was very excited to return to Arrakis. “That’s the thing that I was the most surprised by,” he said. “I felt that after Part Two, I would need a break. I thought that I would want to go write a few films or do a couple of things before going back to Dune: Messiah. But the images that kept coming back to my mind, the appetite is absolutely intact. That’s the biggest surprise. I still want to go back to Arrakis.”
Despite wanting to go back to the arid desert land, Villeneuve knows that this will be his last time with Frank Herbert’s universe. When asked if it really was just one more time, Villeneuve said. “Yes. After that, it would become unhealthy.”
Of course, there are still more Dune stories to adapt, and if Messiah does well, no doubt WB will be on the hunt for an adaptation of Children of Dune and perhaps God Emperor of Dune, if we get that far, but it seems Villeneuve won’t be at the helm for either.