Summary
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Dune: The Messiah adaptation poses challenges due to its lack of action, focus on politics, and darker, introspective story.
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Dune: Part 3 may run afoul of audience expectations for a blockbuster finale, lacking a high-stakes show.
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Villeneuve faces the task of portraying Paul Atreides' negative arc in a sensitive political climate, risking controversy.
The future adaptation of Dune: The Messiah it might be the most anticipated sci-fi project in the near future. However, director Denis Villeneuve faces significant obstacles to overcome to bring his grand vision to life – perhaps more than any other Dune movie or TV show.
The supposedly unfilmable one Dune the novel had to be split into two parts, with many details condensed or omitted. So it's understandable why to adapt Duna Messiah it could be just as or even more challenging. Frank Herbert's follow-up to his original science fiction novel presents its own set of complications. It's not just its massive size and extended length, but its style and substance, that might be hard to translate to the big screen.

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why is it Duna Messiah Hard to adapt?
Less action, more politics
Dune: The Messiah is likely to complete an iconic trilogy that is comparable to classics such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Ringsand many others. However, the problem with using Duna Messiah as the source material for the third film is that it may not align with the studio's vision of a contemporary trilogy ending. Compared to the first part, Dune: Part Two leaned heavily on action over dialogue, so it's only natural that audiences expect climactic battles in the third film. But fans of the book know that's not the case.
What happens in Duna Messiah?
Duna Messiah continues 12 years after Paul Atreides becomes emperor. During his reign, over 60 billion people died, yet Paul continues to justify these actions through his visions. His power grows to such an uncontrollable length that groups like the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild are forced to conspire to dethrone him.
Dune Messiah's lack of glasses
Problem for a trilogy ending
His story Duna Messiah it's a dark and introspective affair. Compared to the first book, which had clearly defined villains and dramatic moments like Paul riding a sandworm, this sequel is much less action-packed. Messiah it focuses on palace intrigue, Paul's inner conflicts, and his descent into tyranny. There is little or no room for cinematic settings. Even the wars are mostly discussed as background events, only their aftermath being felt later.
This would be a challenge for the audience expecting a high-octane show after The second part. Instead of a blockbuster, they would get a more meditative story about corruption, sacrifice and the dangers of absolute power. If the lukewarm response to Dune: Prophecy has taught us anything, is that this slow, dialogue-heavy tone doesn't deliver the impact that Warner Bros. he probably hoped.
Showing the problematic Arc of Paul Atreides
The cautionary tale against hero worship
Another major challenge Villeneuve and his writing team will have to overcome is how to portray Paul Atreides' negative arc in Dune: The Messiah. Dune: Part Two already showed Timothée Chalamet's character starting to let the power consume him. While the original Dune serves as a cautionary tale against hero worship, Frank Herbert intentionally wrote Duna Messiah to dismantle any misconceptions about Paul as a hero. He addressed this in a 1980 essay entitled Dune Genesis:
This, then, was one of my themes for Dune: Don't surrender all your critical faculties to people in power, however admirable those people may seem. Beneath the hero facade you will find a human being who makes human mistakes. Enormous problems arise when human error is made on the grand scale available to a superhero.
Potential political correctness issues
This sequel needs to fully commit to portraying Paul Atreides as a ruthless ruler who kills billions and justifies his actions in the name of a greater purpose. In fact, there is a key conversation with Stilgar in the book where Paul references real-life historical figures like Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler to explain his reasoning. Such a scene would probably not translate well in today's socio-political and cultural climate. Even Dune: Prophecy avoided controversy by not naming the Butlerian Jihad as it is called in the books, instead referring to the event as the War of the Machines.
It's unlikely that the producers will fully confront these darker aspects of Paul Atreides' character. On the other hand, toning them down or omitting them for public consumption would diminish his weight as an anti-hero. While modern audiences generally accept morally gray protagonists, Paul's journey from prophesied savior to genocidal ruler may be too extreme for many to handle.
Dune: The Messiah could still be a masterpiece
A reward worth the risk
Not all major movies have to feature a big fight during the third act. Despite Duna Messiah being a largely political and religious story, there is still room for high stakes and menacing enemies. Moreover, the difficulty of adapting Paul's character development continues to prove how great he is. If his arc is portrayed perfectly, it could become an iconic achievement in cinema for deconstructing the hero archetype on this scale.
The best way to achieve this is to actually depict the war – to show parts of it, rather than starting the story after it has already happened, as in the book. Villeneuve had already done this in previous films, expanding on elements of Dune which Herbert passed over or relegated to the background. Peter Jackson did something similar to The Lord of the Ringswhere he took relatively minor details from the books and turned them into epic set pieces.
If anyone is capable of doing it, it has to be Denis Villeneuve. The Blade Runner 2049 the director could choose to take his own creative liberties and incorporate new Holy War elements to spice it up. Some believe that Duna Messiah the novel to be an epilogue Dunewhile others see it as a companion piece. However, it's up to Villeneuve to turn it into a franchise finale that balances both action and philosophy.

Dune: Part Two
- release date
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February 27, 2024
- Principal
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Denis Villeneuve
- Running time
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167 minutes