Dune Messiah, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2024’s box office hit Dune: Part 2, is now expected to begin filming sooner than originally projected. Part 2 made over $700 million at the global box office, so Warner Bros. was eager to begin development on Denis Villeneuve’s third installment. The film was originally slated to begin filming in the Summer of 2026, but a recent Deadline report suggests it will begin filming as early as June 2025.

Previously, director Denis Villeneuve stated that filming would begin in 2026, but he also said that he may “go back behind the camera faster than I think.” The director originally planned to shoot one of his other slated projects ahead of Dune: Messiah, but he later changed his mind and began working on the threequel instead. Messiah will be the third and final installment in the Dune series that Villeneuve will direct and will presumably conclude the story of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. The film is currently slated for a Christmas 2026 release window.

The film will have a large, star-studded cast with the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, and Anya Taylor-Joy. Zendaya is an interesting case, as she has other films also set to film this summer. She is confirmed to star in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which has already begun filming. She is also expected to star in Spider-Man 4 alongside Tom Holland. That film is expected to begin filming this summer as well. Depending on her role in each of the films, it could delay the production of one or more of them. All three films are currently slated for a 2026 release.