Preamble

Perhaps it’s a product of getting older or how swift the internet age is, but this time yesterday, Dune Part 3 was but a faint whisper. And now it’s full onslaught mode, complete with several posters and a brand new trailer. With that said, what did you make of the first trailer for the upcoming 2026 sequel? Let me know in the comments below.

Brief Thoughts on a Trailer

By and large, the Dune trailers have been quite generous in what they’ve given us. The teaser for the 2021 film split the difference between arresting imagery and sound design that signalled an earnest science fiction spirit. The preview for Part Two was a barrage of images that illustrated its titular planet and the relationship the people had with it. On the other hand, the first trailer for Part Three presents its tricky elements in the wrapper of a tense war epic.

Some of these include the return of a certain sword master, a more foreboding tone and a few visual choices for certain players. This is not a bad thing. Dune Messiah (Frank Herbert’s second novel in his series of six Dune-based novels) was always tougher material to chew on, compared to the first story.

The best elements of the first preview for Part Three demonstrate a firm understanding of these more difficult concepts. For one, the music (starting with soothing humming and culminating in Paul’s intense, warlike chant) illustrates that the external forces (such as the Harkonnens and Sardaukars) and Arrakis itself are no longer threats. The heroes and their supremacy of Dune are the tyrants they previously fought against. The above two shots demonstrate this in spades, whether it’s the first one in its evoking of Rabban overlooking spice production at the beginning of part one or Alia Atreides being like a literal siren for her brother’s rule.

At the same time, it was excellent to see certain important aspects of the Messiah novel, given visual life, such as two shots that depict the coming together of the various conspirators to take down Paul (including a hint to a certain Guild Navigator called Erdrich). For as much as I’ve appreciated Denis Villeneuve’s minimalistic perspective on Herbert’s material, I’m excited to see him embrace the odder aspects of the Dune universe. But above all, it’s been quite heartening to see him describe this upcoming sequel as his most personal film to date. With that and everything else in mind, December 18th can’t come soon enough.