Dune: Part Three Teaser Trailer Look at
The sleeper has awakened, the circle closes, and the savior has become the destroyer. If that sounded a little melodramatic, then you’ll have to forgive me. It feels appropriate considering how this December is going to bring us the final chapter of the Dune Trilogy, Dune: Part Three. And we just got our first trailer for it!
For decades, Dune has been the unattainable holy grail of science fiction. Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic inspired the genre going forward, but is so grand in scale, many considered it impossible to adapt. That trippy 80s film tried; SyFy did a better job with their twin miniseries. But it wasn’t until Denis Villeneuve rolled around that we got films worthy of Dune. But the story of Paul Atreides is not over yet. His tale continues in the sequel book, Dune Messiah, and for the first time, we’re getting it in movie form. Dune: Part Three just dropped its first trailer, and like the previous ones, I was blown away!
Avengers: Doomsday might have some serious competition.
Emperor Paul Atreides
At the end of Dune: Part Two, we saw Paul Atreides choose to embrace his dark destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach by overthrowing the Emperor of the Imperium, becoming the ruler of the known universe. In the time since then, he has led the Fremen on a crusade of conquest as they have spread out across the cosmos, destroying any who refuses to bend the knee to Paul. And if that doesn’t sound like how the story is supposed to go, that’s the point. Frank Herbert wrote Dune to deconstruct the romantic story of a young hero driven into exile coming back to reclaim what is his. Instead of making things better, he’s just inflicting even more pain on the universe. And he hates it!
You would think that seeing Paul be responsible for the deaths of billions of people means that he’s a villain, but remember: he didn’t want the Fremen to worship him as their messiah. He only took the role because of the fake prophecies planted on Dune because he wanted to survive and avenge his father’s death. But now he’s trapped in this position of creating even more enemies, and all he really wants to do is protect his family. A family that, I might add, is about to grow bigger; Chani is pregnant.
How did Paul and Chani Make Up?
At the end of Dune: Part Two, we saw Chani being the only person who refused to buy into the messianic hype about Paul. Between that and his political marriage to the daughter of the former Emperor, she had enough and bailed on her boyfriend. The last time we saw her, she was returning to the desert, getting ready to hitch a ride on a sandworm to do so. This gave the impression that any sequel would change things from the books and have Paul and Chani potentially be at odds with each other. But the trailer quashed that in the first ten seconds as we learn Chani is pregnant.
I understand that there is a significant timeskip between the events of Part Two and Part Three, and it’s possible that the two reconciled in the years since. However, I’m really hoping that the film doesn’t hand-wave what happened and actually explains how the two patched things up. I liked the agency that Chani had in Part Two, and having her go back to Paul just like that feels like a mistake.
Do you know what isn’t a mistake, though? The return of Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho…sort of.
Duncan is Back, Tell a Friend
If you haven’t read the books or seen the Syfy series, you’re probably confused as to how Duncan’s back. The last we saw of Paul’s best friend and sword master, he died holding off the Sardaukar so Paul and his Mom could escape. Yet here he is, alive and well. So I’m just going to rip the band-aid off now and spoil the truth: he’s not the original Duncan.
Like many other science fiction series, cloning exists in the universe of Dune. In-universe, cloning is when you create a genetic copy of a still-living subject. However, creating a copy using the cells of someone who’s already dead is known as a ghola. And after he killed a ton of them before dying, the Sardaukar were so impressed, they took samples of his blood, leading to the creation of the ghola we see Paul meeting in the trailer. This new Duncan has a different name and all of the original’s skills, but none of his memories. However, an important plot point in Dune Messiah is the possibility that a ghola might reawaken their original memories up to the time of their death. Which is good, because (spoiler alert), Duncan Idaho will keep showing up in every book in the series in ghola form.
As for who created the ghola of Duncan, we have the character of Scytale, played by Robert Pattinson. I can’t give away too much, but Scytale is part of a conspiracy that is making one last attempt to bring Paul Atreides to heel. And if the book is anything to go by, then this is not going to end well. No, really, if you’ve read Dune Messiah, then you know how things don’t go the way you think they do.
Alia is Finally Appearing!
In addition to all of this, though, the trailer finally gives us our onscreen look at Alia, Paul’s younger sister. She was an important character in Dune, as due to the drugs her mom took while pregnant, she was born able to see all her genetic memories. It makes her very smart and wise, but comes with the risk of one of her ancestor’s personalities driving her crazy. She was also the one who killed Baron Harkonnen rather than Paul. Her overall physical abscence from Part Two was a major departure from the source material, so I’m looking forward to see how the film writes her character.
NAIL THIS, DUNE!!
The Dune movies have been some of the best films of the 2020s, and if Part Three can stick the landing, it will make sci-fi history. It should also be noted that with the flak Timothee Chalamet has gotten from his recent comments and getting snubbed at the Oscars, he’ll need his film to do well to solidify his future career. It will face its toughest competition ever, though. Currently set for release on December 18th, 2026, Dune: Part Three will be sharing theaters with another major film, Avengers: Doomsday. Fans are already calling it Dunesday, and between the two, it’s the second coming of Barbenheimer.
This trailer gives me high hopes for the film, as if it does well enough, we could see more of Dune in the future. There are plenty of books to be adapted, and I want to see how far studios can take this. Also, after the memes about the Dune popcorn bucket, I want to see if theaters can top it.
