Denis Villeneuve is an acclaimed director who has had great success with his first two Dune movies (streaming with an HBO Max subscription) earning great reviews, box office numbers and Oscar nominations in the process. He’s got another book-to-screen adaptation coming to theaters this December with Part Three, which will feature the return of Jason Momoa after Duncan Idaho was killed in the first film. The Supergirl actor recently got real about why his twist return in Part Three is so “nerve-wracking” for him.
What we know about Dune: Part Three is limited, although fans of Frank Herbert’s novels have some ideas about what’s going to go down. Momoa recently spoke to Empire about returning for the threequel, even though he’s playing a “genetically engineered human replica” of Duncan called Hayt. In his words:
It was nerve-wracking. It’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘I didn’t sign up to play this guy. I signed up to play the other guy.’ I was just waiting to get to that point where you’re like, ‘This is my guy, man. I’m going to unleash hell on everyone!’
Honestly, I see his point. Jason Momoa was heavily featured in Dune 3‘s trailer, but he’s not actually playing Duncan Idaho this time around. Fans are hyped to see him back on Arrakis, but the hulking actor made it clear that trying to find the new character made him a bit nervous. After all, he had carefully crafted his take on Duncan in Villeneuve’s original 2021 movie.
In the same interview, the Aquaman actor spoke about how his co-star Timothée Chalamet is in a similar boat for the blockbuster, despite it being his third appearance as Paul Atreides. Namely because of the new power that the protagonist has amassed during the time jump between films. In Momoa’s words:
It’s a whole ’nother person, what he brings to being the Emperor. It’s just strong, silent and violent. Me and him will geek out a little bit [between takes], but then we got to get back to being serious. He was really in it. I was like, ‘Wow, I cannot believe he just went toe to toe with me physically and mentally.’ That guy comes in like a nuke, man.
Suddenly I’m even more excited to see this highly anticipated threequel. The end of Dune: Part Two saw Paul embrace the prophecy of being Lisan al Gaib, taking the Imperial Throne and demanding Princess Irulan’s hand in marriage. We’ll see him two decades later during Part Three, where he’s a ruthless Emperor engaging in a holy war. You can see the trailer for the third movie below, complete with Jason Momoa’s new character.
It should be interesting to see how Dune 3 performs in theaters, especially as it’s half of the Dunesday event. The movie is coming out at the same day as Avengers: Doomsday, and both of those movies feature Florence Pugh in a starring role. We’ll just have to see how much both titles make at the box office.
Dune: Part Three hits theaters on December 18th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Jason Momoa is back, although he won’t be the same Duncan we know and love.