Dune Part 3 trailer: Timothee Chalamet returns in concluding chapter in Denis Villeneuve’s cinema trilogy

Dune Part 3 has promised an “epic conclusion” to the cinematic adaption of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic.

Nine months out from its release, the first teaser trailer has dropped for Denis Villeneuve’s film, and it’s a whirlwind check-in with all the major characters from the franchise, and a new one played by Robert Pattinson.

Timothee Chalamet will return as Paul Atreides, the boy duke now messiah and emperor trapped in a cycle of violence, contending with power plots against him and a holy war he started.

The completely stacked cast also includes Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa and Anya Taylor-Joy, the latter of whom we very briefly glimpsed at the end of Dune Part 2.

Pattinson’s character is Scytale, the peroxide-haired primary antagonist of this chapter. After the main villain of the two previous films, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard), was killed off, someone else was going to have to fill that function.

But at a trailer launch event in Los Angeles, Pattinson teased the question of whether Scytale was a straight-out villain.

“You can’t really tell whose side he’s on. That’s kind of what makes him quite interesting,” he said. “I wouldn’t say he’s a conventional bad guy, as such. He might even be a good guy. Who knows? I will also find out when I see the movie.

“It’s an extremely fun character to play and the look of it is quite extraordinary.”

The third Dune film, slated for release on December 17, the same day as fellow genre blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday, will time jump 17 years. In that time, Paul has ruled as the emperor of the Imperium.

Paul has a political marriage to Princess Irulan (Pugh) but is still involved with Fremen warrior Chani (Zendaya). In the trailer, we see a tender moment between Paul and Chani discussing names for their potential future children.

Villeneuve said that the couple was the heart of the film. “It’s a story about Paul and Chani and them struggling with their relationship, having the burden and incredible pressure from the world around them, and Paul is trying to find a way out of this cycle of violence.

“There’s something about their love, through time and the way they are, their relationship evolves.”

Villeneuve directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Brian K. Vaughn, adapted from Herbert’s second Dune book, Dune Messiah.

He flagged that the tone of this third film is different from the previous two, which were released in 2021 and 2024. “If the first movie was more of a contemplation, like a boy exploring a new world, and the second one being a war movie, this one is a thriller. It is action-packed and tense, more muscular.”

He and Pattinson were joined at the launch event by Zendaya, Taylor-Joy and Bardem. Chalamet, who two days earlier ended his Oscars campaign in disappointment, was not present but he sent a pre-recorded message.

“This film would not exist without the master of cinema, the great artist that is Denis Villeneuve,” Chalamet said. “Denis always says, ‘Vive le cinema’, and with this third film, I think he has done just that: a true act of cinema.

The Canadian filmmaker has said that Dune Part 3 would be his last adventure in the franchise.

He is also about to become very busy having signed up to direct the next James Bond film, which will be a reset for the British super spy, and the first movie under its new regime at Amazon MGM Studios.

The canonical Bond movies were previously actively produced by Eon Productions but Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson sold their creative control to Amazon last year, while retaining their financial stake.

Villeneuve will direct from a screenplay by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. No casting decisions have been made.