Warner Bros. Pictures
MOVIE
‘Dune 3’ Has a Big Challenge: The Next Book Isn’t That Great
'Dune Messiah' has plenty of fans, but it’s a philosophical palace intrigue story without the cinematic scope, epic stakes and action set pieces of the first novel. Fans of Frank Herbert’s Dune saga agree: The first book is extraordinary — a planet-hopping hero’s journey with compelling characters, riveting action set-pieces, and clear story and character arcs. For all the talk that Dune was impossible to adapt, the core elements to make great cinema have always been in the 1965 book.
But Herbert’s other Dune books? Well …
The remaining books have their fans and detractors, but the general consensus is the saga never comes close to achieving the dramatic heights of the first novel. Dune director Denis Villeneuve himself has said the books become increasingly “esoteric” and therefore he only wants to adapt the next one, Dune Messiah. He is said to be nearly finished with a script for a potential Dune: Part Three. But Messiah is has plenty of challenges, too.
Thus far, Villeneuve has been exceedingly faithful to his source material (his approach to Dune’s adaption was about finding character and story essentials and cutting out the rest, rather than making significant changes). But Messiah presents an interesting creative dilemma: The more faithful the adaptation, the less likely the result will be compelling onscreen, and the less comparable the film will feel with the first two parts.