Dune Part Three trailer: is Chani's role bigger than in Messiah?

Every trailer I see for Dune Part Three makes me more excited for it. The latest trailer, like every one before it, reveals a deeper story, and that makes the telling of Chani's story in this film very different from Frank Herbert's novel Dune Messiah.

As of November 1, 2026, the countdown to Avengers: Doomsday is on, and Dune Part Three arrives on the same day, December 18. Zach and I talked through the trailer, how far Denis Villeneuve is moving away from the book, and what the shared date could mean at the box office.

Dune Part Three trailer gives Zendaya's Chani a bigger role than Dune Messiah

Zach started from the point that across the first two Dune films, Villeneuve has already charted a new path for Chani. His argument was that once you have a major movie star like Zendaya in the role, female characters in the Dune novels may feel incomplete, and filling them out is part of the art of adaptation.

In the books, as Zach described it, Chani is essentially a love interest, and there's a question of whether the character is ideal. If she dies for the sake of the main character, my answer was that she gets sidelined, completely sidelined. Zach noted that's a spoiler, but it's also a book this film clearly departs from. She's sidelined in Dune Messiah and doesn't have a large role in that novel.

Zach's read of the latest trailer is that it makes plain Zendaya is getting a much bigger part this time. She's shown actively fighting, among other things, which points to a version of Chani with far more to do than the one on the page.

Dune Part Three looks set to show the galactic wars that Dune Messiah skips

Zach called Dune Messiah an interesting novel. Most of the book takes place inside people's heads, and it's set after galactic wars.

The book never shows any of those wars. Everything happens in their aftermath. The trailers, however, suggest the film will show some of it, and Zach expects we'll definitely see battles and planetary invasions carried out in the name of Paul Atreides.

Zach welcomed that shift, and he thinks this film could join the short list of movies that improve on their source novel in many ways. His caveat was that this isn't meant to belittle Frank Herbert. His view, offered as a fan of the books, is that they're old and full of flaws.

Frank Herbert's books were prophetic and ahead of their time

I didn't let that criticism go unanswered. My counterpoint was that Herbert's books were remarkably prophetic and ahead of their time, and Zach agreed.

His comparison was Citizen Kane: a work that has been drawn on so often by everything that followed that it's hard to appreciate its true value and importance today.

Even so, Zach's enthusiasm for the teasers was clear. He said every second he's seen so far gives him chills, that it's amazing, and that it's even funny in places.

Why Avengers: Doomsday on December 18 may help Dune Part Three

With two huge films opening on the same day, people keep asking whether Avengers: Doomsday will hurt Dune Part Three, or whether the clash will help or harm both. Zach thinks it has helped Dune in many ways.

His reasoning is that so much speculation is focused on Doomsday, with its small leaks and intense scrutiny of every teaser, that the conversation around Dune has become quieter. He thinks Dune has slipped in under the radar, and that most people will judge it after seeing it, unlike the many who may have reached conclusions early based on the Doomsday promotion. He allowed that this might be just his personal opinion, and said he found the latest trailer amazing and liked it a lot.

My own comparison was Dune as the Oppenheimer to Doomsday's Barbie. I think everyone will see the Marvel film and have an opinion on it, and it will break records and be a big hit, but people will come out of the other film saying it changed them in a way they never imagined. I'd point to the success of The Odyssey as evidence that audiences will back a religious epic and a historical epic with inventive storytelling to the tune of a billion dollars. I think we'll see two billion dollar films on December 18, which would be a first in history.

Is Denis Villeneuve second only to Christopher Nolan as an epic director

Zach raised the question of whether, even if he hasn't matched Nolan's financial success, Villeneuve is now second in Hollywood as a director trusted to deliver great epics consistently. I mentioned that Shawn Levy is part of that conversation too.

Zach's answer was that if you add up awards, performance and cultural impact, Villeneuve is ahead of Steven Spielberg right now, and that many would call him the better director. He doesn't think Villeneuve has made a bad film yet.

I agreed, even for his films that may have been seen as failures at the time. I think Blade Runner 2049 didn't make the money expected of it, but it's a great movie, and Zach agreed it still is. Zach's takeaway was that we're lucky to get two great films at once. Over the holidays, people may not see both on opening weekend, but with two weeks off school, travel or family visits, there's time for second and third viewings.

Box office prediction: Dune Part Three to hold better than Doomsday

My box office prediction is that Dune Part Three will see a smaller drop from its first week to its second than Avengers: Doomsday. Doomsday will have the bigger opening and will break records, but I think its drop off will still be noticeable.

I think many people will see Doomsday on Christmas Day, giving it huge numbers on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the following week. As the weeks pass, though, I expect the drop to grow, while Dune Part Three might even see attendance rise, with more people choosing to see it on its second weekend.

Zach added that, as with The Odyssey, some people will want to see Dune in a specific IMAX format and make sure they get good seats, so they may have to wait a week or two for tickets at their chosen theater. My pushback was that they'll need to move quickly, because I think by the first or second week of January, IMAX screens will be handed over to Marvel. That's an economic reality I don't think anyone can deny.

The Dune trilogy as this generation's Lord of the Rings

I really think the Dune trilogy will go down in history the way The Lord of the Rings trilogy did, but for our generation, becoming an undeniable cultural force because it adapts source material considered difficult to adapt.

I think that with this third film, Villeneuve will create his own work, drawing elements from Dune Messiah and Children of Dune while telling an original story that feels thematically faithful to what Herbert wrote. That's what excites Zach: he knows the story of Dune Messiah, and knowing Villeneuve isn't sticking to it makes him eager to see the choices he makes.