Dune 3's new trailer teases big changes from the books

It seems like Chani will get a lot more screen time, among other alterations.

The highly anticipated finale of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune film trilogy just got another trailer, and once again it hints at several deviations from the novels.

Dune: Part Three’s latest trailer shows that significant time has passed since the events of the previous Dune movie, with Paul having ruled as the Padishah Emperor for long enough to have “conquered the galaxy” and “destroyed thousands of worlds,” as Jason Momoa’s Duncan Idaho puts it.

Then Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and a new character played by Robert Pattinson (who is going full Roy Batty mode) conspire for “regime change” against Paul. “I found someone,” Pattinson’s character says. The camera cuts to Zendaya as Chani, implying she may play an important role in this attempted coup. There are also massive battles and sandworms, because it's a Dune movie after all.

For those who don’t mind a bit more context or who have already read the book Dune Messiah, the latest trailer suggests the movie will differ from its source material in a few key ways. The most obvious departure is that the movie is being billed as the “epic conclusion” to this narrative. The book Dune Messiah was not the “conclusion” of this saga; series author Frank Herbert wrote four more novels. Unless the film somehow adapts both Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, it won’t be able to fully wrap up Paul’s tale without making some changes.

Another alteration, and one that’s likely for the best, is that Chani seems to have a much bigger role in the story. Dune: Part Two introduced a significant rift between Paul and Chani (regarding Paul entering a political marriage with Princess Irulan) that wasn’t in the original novel. It seems that Part Three will pick up on this thread, with Chani potentially involved in the plot against her former partner.

The YouTube description for the trailer confirms another deviation, albeit a potentially semantic one: Dune: Part Three is set “nearly two decades” after the events of the previous film, whereas the book is set 12 years later. Somewhat more meaningfully, the trailer also shows wars and conflicts from this interim period that the novel only alludes to, meaning we'll likely see much more of Paul's Holy War.

Villeneuve and co-screenwriter Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Y: The Last Man, Under the Dome, Lost) have a tall task ahead of them. They need to make changes to the story that work for filmgoers without (totally) pissing off devoted fans who treat the source material with absolute reverence. Maybe it won’t be possible to win over both groups, but if they have to choose, hopefully they will pick the former: It's better to be a good movie and a "bad" adaptation than the other way around.

Dune: Part Three is in movie theaters on Dec. 18 — the same day as Avengers: Doomsday.