Denis Villeneuve refuses to make more than three Dune movies, and that's maybe for the best

Before Dune: Part Two’s arrival next month, we’re getting more and more comments on what the future may hold, but director Denis Villeneuve could be done with the franchise soon.

Dune-mania ahead of the sequel to 2021’s banger has grown so big that even the infamous David Lynch-directed 1984 adaptation is returning to cinemas as well. Of course, there’s been talk of Denis Villeneuve also adapting Dune Messiah (the second book in the series) after he’s done with this two-parter, and he even confirmed last year he’d put “words on paper” already, so it seems like a matter of when instead of if.

While Warner Bros. and Legendary are bullish on the Dune IP following the more-than-adequate theatrical performance of Part One in 2021 in spite of releasing on HBO Max day-and-date, Villeneuve is adamant about his plans, which don’t include personally handling more than three movies. He told TIME recently: “Dune Messiah should be the last Dune movie for me.”