Paul Atreides won. He defeated the emperor of the galaxy and assumed the throne himself. And yet, his victory at the end of Dune: Part Two didn’t feel particularly triumphant. Paul had to make many, many sacrifices to get to that point, including giving up the love of his life, Chani. And now, in Dune: Part Three, we’ll see how that plays out.

The first trailer for the highly anticipated conclusion to director Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy is out now. And, to celebrate the release, the director and members of his cast held an event in Los Angeles to tease what’s to come. The most revealing part was when Villeneuve explained how Dune: Part Three, based on the second Dune book, Dune Messiah, will feel, look, and sound different from the previous two movies.

“I said to myself, it’s a good idea to come back to this world, not by nostalgia but by urgency. And to go there with a critical eye and the idea not to be self-indulgent,” Villeneuve said at the event. “I said to my team that it will be a very different film, a very different Dune movie, with a different tone, with a different rhythm, with a different pace. If the first movie was more of a contemplation, like a movie that [is] exploring a new world, and the second one being a war movie, this one is a thriller. It’s a more action-packed and more intense film, more muscular than the two others, I would say.”

He went on to explain what he meant by it being a thriller. “There’s a time gap, 17 years, where we see Paul dealing with the consequences of having too much power and him trying to figure out how to get out of this cycle of violence,” Villeneuve said. “And of course, he’s an emperor who can see the future, so he’s kind of invincible. And we follow people trying to overthrow him. And it’s a quite intense story. But at the heart, it’s still a love story. The heartbeat of the film is still the relationship between Paul and Chani. And I’m very excited. I can’t wait to share the movie with you guys.”

He really means that too because, according to Villeneuve, not only does he love Dune: Messiah even more than the original Dune book, but he also found something even deeper in it this time around.

“Dune Messiah is by far my favorite book of the series,” he said. “It’s a very dark book, a beautiful book. And this time, I will say this is one of my most personal films, if not my most personal film. So it’s a film that is very close to me and very contemporary.”

“It’s about the story of Paul and Chani, them struggling with their relationship, having the burden and incredible pressure from the world around them,” Villeneuve continued. “And there’s something about their love and their time and the way they are, the way their relationship evolved. That study on the relationship of both characters that is very personal to me.”

But not only is Dune: Part Three more exciting and emotional than the previous two films, it’s going to look different as well. You get a taste from the new trailer, but for Part Three, Villeneuve changed cinematographers from Greig Fraser (who did the first two) to Linus Sandgren, who did La La Land and No Time to Die.

“[Arrakis has] changed in those years,” Villeneuve said as to why he switched cinematographers. “The climate is different. It’s still the desert planet, but there are differences. We are visiting new sets, new places. I brought the camera to areas of the planet that you guys have not seen before. And we are visiting new planets as well. And I wanted to approach this with a new pair of eyes.”

One person who is coming back, though, is composer Hans Zimmer. His music from the previous two films very much defined what Dune is, so Villeneuve knew he had to come back with a slight twist. “Hans is working on the music already… But like the movie is different, the score would be different,” Villeneuve said. “And it’s something that Hans is very excited about and approaching with the same spirit as the two first films.”

New planets, new relationships, new eyes, and new music. It sure sounds like Dune: Part Three will be quite the departure from the first two films. December can’t come soon enough.

We’ll have more on Dune: Part Three soon. The film opens on December 18.

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