'Dune 3' Stars Say the Film Departs From Frank Herbert's Books, but Warn Against 'Picking Fault'

The cast of Denis Villeneuve's "Dune 3" is getting the word out early: the upcoming film will take real departures from Frank Herbert's literary saga, even as it stays rooted in the source. The third installment draws heavily from "Dune Messiah," Herbert's 1969 sequel novel.

"There's a lot in this film that is very true to the source material, and there are departures," Zendaya told The New York Times. Franchise newcomer Robert Pattinson went further, saying, "You got to be kind of crazy if you're going to be picking fault with this one."

Pattinson, making his "Dune" debut as Scytale, said, "The script was really cool, but it was quite complicated." He added that the finished film "is not about what I thought it was going to be about at all," describing it as "much more of a grand political, moral fable" that is also far more emotional than expected. "A lot of it is about parenting, and I just thought it was so moving," he said.

Timothée Chalamet, asked whether he was satisfied with how Villeneuve concludes the trilogy, gave a firm endorsement. "Absolutely. It didn't feel like the bar dropped at all, Denis just changed the location of the bar," he said. "This movie is its own thing."

"Dune 3" lands in theaters at the close of a strong year for the box office. Its opening weekend, shared with "Avengers: Doomsday," is widely expected to rank as the highest-grossing single weekend in box office history.

Florence Pugh, back as Irulan in the third film, credits the "Dune" movies with helping bring "back moviegoing" after the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes. The first "Dune," released in 2021, opened simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max and still grossed $410 million worldwide, an impressive result while COVID was still disrupting the industry. The 2024 sequel received an exclusive theatrical release and earned $714 million.

"What an event the second one was," Pugh told The Times. "It was just so lovely to be a part of something that we know is our generational kind of 'Star Wars.'"

Zendaya struck a similar note, saying she and her co-stars hope to keep contributing to the moviegoing experience and "keep that alive, because it's so much a part of my life, my childhood, so many people's lives." As she put it, "it's the reason we do it."

"Dune 3" opens in theaters Dec. 18 from Warner Bros and Legendary.