Could Dune 4 Be Made Without Denis Villeneuve?
The Dune saga could continue beyond Dune 3.
Get ready for more Atreides family drama! According to a new rumor, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures could develop a fourth Dune film beyond the already in-development film, Dune Messiah. But if that’s the case, then this hypothetical movie adaptation of the third Frank Herbert Dune book — Children of Dune — would almost certainly need a new director.
Since 2021, Denis Villeneuve has repeatedly said he only wanted to do three Dune films, spanning the events of the first two novels. “I always saw a trilogy,” Villeneuve said before the release of Dune: Part One. So, if Dune 4 happens, does that mean Denis Villeneuve is out? And, if a Children of Dune movie does happen, who will star in it?
According to Hollywood scoopster Daniel Richtman, “Legendary/WB already have plans for more Dune. Including a second show and a 4th film.” The second show would mean that there’s another spinoff TV series in addition to the forthcoming second season of Dune: Prophecy. While there are a ton of possibilities for what a second series could touch upon — everything from the pre-Guild time of the Buterlian Jihad, to far-future sequels — there’s really only one option for a fourth movie: An adaptation of the 1976 novel Children of Dune, the direct sequel to Dune Messiah.
Children of Dune has been adapted only once before. In 2003, following the mega-successful miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune in 2000, the Sci-Fi Channel (not yet “SyFy”) released Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune, which adapted both Messiah and Children into one story. Famously, this miniseries starred James McAvoy as Leto II Atreides, son of Paul and Chani, and future God Emperor of Dune. It also starred Daniela Amavia as Alia Atreides, Paul’s sister. Prior to Anya Taylor-Joy’s brief cameo in Dune: Part Two, Amavia was the only performer to ever appear as an adult version of Alia. And, if a new Children of Dune happens, it almost certainly means that Anya Taylor-Joy would have a major role since, in the novel, Alia is central to the story (she becomes semi-possessed by her grandfather’s spirit, the late Baron Harkonnen, in one of the book’s many wild twists).
If Dune 4 jumps ahead into the future, almost none of these people would appear in it.
A Children of Dune movie would also have to cast Paul and Chani’s children, the aforementioned Leto II, and his twin sister, Ghanima Atreides. While these characters are young in the novel, the 2003 version made them a bit older, which could be the case again. In theory, if Leto II was aged up to his early 20s, Timothée Chalamet could play his own son. However, Paul Atreides is very much in the novel Children of Dune, albeit in the guise of a mysterious character called “The Preacher.” So, if the fourth Dune movie is a straightforward adaptation of Children of Dune, that film’s production will probably need Chalamet to play this older version of Paul.
Then again, it’s all very possible that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Messiah is already pulling elements from Children of Dune, which could suggest that the rumored fourth Dune film wouldn't be an adaptation of the third novel, but instead, the fourth book, 1981’s God Emperor of Dune. If that’s the case, the only cast member who would absolutely have to return would be Jason Momoa, as a cloned Ghola version of Duncan Idaho. Because God Emperor of Dune is set 3,500 years after Children of Dune, a film version would, essentially, have a blank slate. And even if Leto II appears as a baby and a child in the Dune Messiah movie, he could easily be recast in a God Emperor movie because the character becomes half-man/half-sandworm by that point.
In any case, this rumored Dune 4 movie will need a new director. There’s close to zero chance that Villeneuve will return for this project, whatever it is. On social media, fans have already started mentioning their dream picks for a Dune 4 director, including Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, and Alfonso Cuarón. But regardless of who takes on this possible Dune movie, they will likely be breaking new ground for the franchise, and proving that perhaps the Dune saga beyond the first few books isn’t as unfilmable as previously believed.
