Timothée Chalamet Can’t Stop Gushing Over Villeneuve Ahead Of ‘Dune: Part Three’
The ‘Dune’ faithful have waited years for closure, and this week they finally got a real taste of it. Denis Villeneuve and Timothée Chalamet unveiled an action packed new trailer for ‘Dune Part Three,’ offering the most comprehensive look yet at the final chapter of the sci-fi trilogy. The unveiling doubled as a celebration of just how quickly this saga has come together.
The footage premiered at a Global IMAX Fan Event simulcast across Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, London, Berlin, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi. Chalamet made a surprise appearance at the Los Angeles theater, joining a Brittany Broski moderated Q&A with Villeneuve, and fans watching remotely from every other city got to react in real time.
It was during that conversation that Chalamet turned the spotlight fully onto his director. Posting about the moment, Variety captured Chalamet praising Villeneuve for the sheer speed of the trilogy, saying he could have taken years between these projects but instead buckled in and got it done right away. He added that he is a huge fan of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and cannot imagine the last time someone knocked out three things so consecutively, closing with the now viral line, in Denis we trust.
That devotion tracks with what Villeneuve revealed about his own hesitation to keep going. The director had initially planned to step away from ‘Dune’ for a while after the second film, but found himself waking up at night with images that kept getting stronger, and realized while touring for ‘Part Two’ that he felt a genuine appetite to finish the story. That restlessness is apparently what shaved years off the usual wait between franchise installments.
The trailer itself picks up the stakes considerably. Set seventeen years after ‘Part Two,’ it finds Chalamet’s Paul Atreides ruling the galaxy as emperor while Zendaya’s Chani confronts him over promises broken since his rise to power, and Jason Momoa’s resurrected Duncan Idaho describes a leader who has conquered the galaxy while destroying thousands of worlds along the way. Chalamet addressed the darker turn directly, noting that Frank Herbert wrote the follow up novel specifically because readers had mistaken Paul for a straightforward hero rather than a warning about blind devotion to charismatic leaders.
Are you excited for 'Dune: Part Three?'
Returning cast members round out an already stacked ensemble. Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem and Florence Pugh are all back, with Pugh’s Princess Irulan getting a significantly expanded role, while Anya Taylor Joy reprises her brief ‘Part Two’ cameo as Alia Atreides in a much bigger capacity this time. Isaach de Bankole also joins the cast as one of Paul’s former death commandos, adding fresh tension to an already crowded web of alliances.
‘Dune Part Three’ is set for release in theaters this December 18, closing out a trilogy that Chalamet himself seems almost sentimental about wrapping. Given how rare it is for a franchise this massive to stick the landing on schedule, it is easy to see why the cast keeps thanking Villeneuve by name.
Does Chalamet’s Lord of the Rings comparison feel earned, or is Denis Villeneuve about to prove he can top even that with Paul Atreides’ fall from grace?
