Dune 4 ‘in development at Warner Bros. with or without Denis Villeneuve’

A fourth ‘Dune’ movie is reportedly in the works at Warner Bros.

The sci-fi saga has so far been helmed by director Denis Villeneuve - who is currently working on his third and final entry into the franchise ‘Dune: Messiah’ - though Hollywood insider Daniel Richtman has now claimed Warner Bros. is looking to continue the story with or without the filmmaker.

As well as a supposed fourth movie, the studio is also reportedly exploring another spin-off TV series after releasing the Max prequel show ‘Dune: Prophecy’ in November 2024.

In September, Villeneuve insisted he would not stay in the ‘Dune’ franchise after ‘Messiah’, as the books written by Frank Herbert that the film series is based on are “tricky to adapt”.

During an appearance on Vanity Fair’s ‘Little Gold Men’ podcast, the ‘Blade Runner 2049’ director said: “I think that it would be a good idea for me to make sure that, in ‘Messiah,’ there are the seeds in the project if someone wants to do something else afterwards because they are beautiful books.

“They are more difficult to adapt. They become more and more esoteric.”

After releasing ‘Dune: Part Two’ in March 2024, Villeneuve announced he would be taking a break from the series to work on other projects, though later found himself picking the pen back up much sooner than he thought he would.

He explained to Deadline in October: “Let’s say that I thought that after ‘Part Two’ that I will take a break, that I will go back in the woods and stay in the woods for a while to recover. But the woods weren’t really suiting me, and I would go back behind the camera faster than I think. But that’s all I can say.”

At the time, Villeneuve said he was “in the writing zone” for ‘Messiah’, though made an effort not to call the film ‘Dune: Part Three’.

He explained the first two films felt like “one entity” to him, before adding: “It’s a movie made in two parts. It’s finished, it’s done.”

‘Dune: Messiah’ - which will star Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy - will follow Paul Atreides 12 years into his reign as the Emperor of the Known Universe as the religious cult he created around himself begins to spiral out of his control.

While he wanted to do justice to Herbert’s work, the ‘Sicario’ filmmaker emphasised he also wanted to “do something completely different” with his cinematic take on ‘Messiah’.

He explained: “Like Herbert did with ‘Dune: Messiah’, I think it’ll be a great idea to do something completely different. The story takes place like 12 years after where we left the characters at the end of ‘Part Two’.

“Their journey, their story is different this time, and that’s why I always say that while it’s the same world it’s a new film with new circumstances.”