Denis Villeneuve’s final Dune film is moving beyond Paul Atreides’s rise to power and into the damage left behind by it.
The new trailer for Dune: Part Three was shown at a global Imax event on Wednesday, with audiences in several cities, including Abu Dhabi, watching Villeneuve and actor Timothee Chalamet discuss the film live.
The Abu Dhabi audience also saw an extended scene from the film and heard from Emirati actor-stuntman Mohamed Mostafa, who appears in the latest instalment.
The film, inspired by Frank Herbert’s second book in the series, Dune Messiah, is set nearly two decades after Paul (Chalamet) seizes control of the Imperium.
Here are five things we learnt.
1. Paul's story is a warning about charismatic leaders
Chalamet placed Paul’s darker path within Herbert’s original warning about leadership and devotion.
“I guess the clues are in the book,” he said. “I think Frank Herbert and Denis painted a nuanced picture of a sort of warning tale to beware charismatic leaders.”
Paul’s journey in the first two films carried the shape of a hero’s rise. He was a young heir forced into exile, tested by the desert and embraced by the Fremen. But the third film begins after the victory, with Paul ruling over an empire shaped by his visions and decisions.
The new footage emphasises the story's darker shift. Paul is confronted with the destruction carried out in his name, including the charge that he has conquered the galaxy and destroyed thousands of worlds.
2. Paul's character is more nuanced than a villain arc
Chalamet was careful with the idea that Dune: Part Three begins Paul’s villain arc. He said the film would be “more nuanced than that”.
He pointed to Herbert’s decision to write Dune Messiah after readers treated Paul as a conventional hero. “He wanted to warn the world what can happen when people blindly follow leaders, and that even the good can be corrupted,” Chalamet said.
Chani remains part of that reckoning. Zendaya’s character ended Dune: Part Two feeling betrayed by Paul, and Chalamet said the third film carries forward “a sense of betrayal” after the collapse of their relationship.
He also said Villeneuve had woven in storylines that were less explicit in the book, calling it perhaps the director’s biggest creative liberty across the trilogy.
In the trailer, Chani reminds Paul that he said he would never take power in his own name, and that he had convinced her Arrakis was his home. The line places their broken relationship inside the larger consequences of Paul’s rule.
3. Villeneuve formed a 'psychedelic unit' for experimental imagery
Villeneuve said his cinematic education began with experimental short films from the National Film Board of Canada, and he wanted to bring some of that spirit into the final Dune film.
He created a small group of filmmakers whose task was to experiment in front of the camera and produce images for Dune Three. He called it the “psychedelic unit”.
The unit was led by French-Canadian filmmakers Kristof Brandl and Salome Villeneuve, and Denis Villeneuve said their work would appear in the finished film.
Chalamet also described the third film as having a different rhythm. He said Dune and Dune: Part Two felt like “siblings”, while the new film has “its own energy”.
4. The audience saw an extended scene on the aftermath of a prophecy fulfilled
Villeneuve introduced an extended early scene from Dune: Part Three, saying it was shot on 70mm Imax film.
“Paul’s visions from the first two movies have now become reality, and we see the consequences of his decisions,” he said.
The scene, which ran for about eight minutes, used little dialogue and was presented as an exclusive preview. Villeneuve said audiences would also be able to see a glimpse of it ahead of select 70mm Imax screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
The footage gave the audience a first look at the aftermath of a prophecy fulfilled. Paul’s power has grown, but his ability to see what comes next appears to be breaking down.
5. Abu Dhabi’s role has grown into crew and stunt talent
Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert has helped define Arrakis across Villeneuve’s trilogy. Dune: Part Three shows how the emirate’s role in the franchise has expanded behind the camera and on screen.
The film was shot in Abu Dhabi for 31 days, including two days in Al Ain. More than 600 people based in the UAE were involved, including 206 local crew members, 12 stunt performers, 336 local contractors and 38 people supporting crowd scenes, plus six interns in off-camera production roles.
At the Q&A, Mostafa, who is credited as a stunt actor in the film, said the production was his first time working specifically as a stunt performer after years as an actor who often did his own stunts.
He described the role as a privilege and said Abu Dhabi’s growing film infrastructure is helping UAE talent reach international productions.
“Sometimes you can’t control the timing, but positioning, you can,” he said. “The UAE, through Abu Dhabi's Creative Media Authority, is enhancing the opportunities for us as talents to go global.”
Villeneuve also returned to the desert when speaking to the Abu Dhabi audience. The memory that stayed with him was the start of the day, as the sun rose over the dunes and the crew prepared to shoot.
“It’s a crazy journey to bring a massive film crew in the deep desert,” he said. “But then the reward was seeing these smiles every morning.”
Dune: Part Three releases in the UAE on December 16
