Dune: Part Three is set for a December 18, 2026 release, confirming that Denis Villeneuve’s return to Arrakis is happening sooner than expected — and bringing his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s saga to a close. The third film is positioned as the conclusion to Villeneuve’s trilogy, following Dune: Part One (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), the latter of which crossed $700 million globally and significantly expanded the franchise’s audience.

The trailer for Dune: Part Three was released in March and it offers the clearest look yet at how the final chapter is being shaped. It shifts the focus away from Paul Atreides’ rise and toward the consequences of his rule. Paul is shown as an emperor dealing with political instability, resistance, and the long-term fallout of the empire built in his name. The scale remains, but the emphasis is more controlled — less about conquest, more about power and its consequences.

The trailer points to a clear shift in direction. Instead of continuing Paul Atreides’ rise, the film focuses on the consequences of his rule. Paul is shown as an emperor dealing with political instability, resistance, and the long-term fallout of the empire built in his name. The tone is more restrained and inward-looking, with a stronger emphasis on power, control, and the cost of both.

Villeneuve had planned to take a break after Part Two

Following the release of Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve had stated several months ago that he planned to take a bit of a break between Dune: Part Two and its intended sequel, Dune: Messiah. However, coming off the immense success of Dune: Part Two earlier this year, which received rave reviews from both critics and casual moviegoers alike and earned over $700 million at the box office, it sounds like Villeneuve has thrown his original vacation plans out the window.

Speaking with Deadline, the French Canadian filmmaker revealed that he is going to go “back behind the camera faster” than he thought he would and that his “break” from Frank Herbert’s Dune world is already over. “I’m in the writing zone right now,” he said, referencing the script for Dune: Messiah. Villeneuve did not confirm the specific timeline he now has in mind for the sequel, but he did note that he is likely going to make Messiah much faster than he originally planned.

He spoke about the need for distance after completing two large-scale productions back-to-back and avoided committing to any timeline for a follow-up.

The response to Part Two changed that timeline

That plan shifted after Dune: Part Two’s critical and commercial success. The film’s performance reinforced the scale of audience interest in the franchise, and Villeneuve returned to writing sooner than initially expected.

Production on Dune: Part Three moved forward quickly, and the film is now in post-production. With Warner Bros. setting a December 2026 release, the gap between the second and third films is shorter than originally indicated.

The final chapter focuses on consequences, not conquest

Returning cast members include Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh, with Anya Taylor-Joy expected to expand her role following her appearance in Part Two.

Villeneuve has described the film as distinct from its predecessors despite returning to the same world and characters — a continuation that closes the story rather than extending it further.

Ascend Elements said on Friday it has started Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., a heavy blow to investors who had sunk nearly $900 million into the company. 

Linh Austin, Ascend’s CEO, announced the decision in a post on LinkedIn late Thursday night. He said the company faced “insurmountable” financial challenges.

Ascend’s filing comes amid a softening market for electric vehicles in the U.S. and was likely compounded by the Trump administration’s decision to cancel a $316 million grant intended for a Kentucky facility that was under construction. At the time, $204 million was disbursed, but Ascend had to look for additional capital to make up the shortfall.

The market for EVs in the U.S. has hit a rough patch recently. Though sales surged prior to the end of tax credits in September last year, they haven’t quite recovered. Analysts predicted that customers who might have bought this year pulled their purchases forward to take advantage of the credit, but it didn’t help assuage automakers’ fears.

Since then, several automakers have dialed back their plans for new EVs in the U.S. For example, Volkswagen said yesterday that it was ending production of the ID.4 at its Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory in favor of the gas-powered Atlas. 

Ascend has developed a process to extract valuable critical minerals from scrap and end-of-life batteries. It says its process limits the number of steps needed to transform shredded waste into precursor materials for new cathodes.

The company has been building a 1 million-square-foot facility in Kentucky that has been beset by lawsuits and delays, according to local reports.

Like many battery-related startups, Ascend was entering a challenging and cutthroat industry. The largest market for battery materials is cells for EVs, but automakers have long lead times, and their specifications are known to change over time. Chinese manufacturers, which benefit from steady and generous state support, have been dominating the market and driving down costs.

Other recycling startups like Redwood Materials have pivoted to reusing some of the packs that flow through their sourcing network. The startup developed a way to incorporate a range of different pack types into larger, grid-scale batteries capable of powering data centers. The market for stationary storage has exploded in recent years, allowing Redwood to draw near-term revenue while continuing to build its recycling business.

Microsoft is lining up two very different Teams updates, and one of them targets a meeting problem almost everyone knows too well. The company is preparing a pre-join mic and speaker test that lets users record a short sample and play it back before entering a call.

That rollout is expected to begin in May 2026 on desktop and Mac, which makes it the more immediate change for most people.

The second update matters for a different reason. Microsoft is also preparing privacy-first Copilot recaps that let organizations generate AI meeting summaries without storing recordings or transcripts. That rollout is set to begin next month, with broader availability expected in June 2026.

Before the call gets awkward

The upcoming mic test sounds simple. From the pre-join screen, users will be able to test microphone and speaker output, record a short clip, and play it back immediately. That should help catch the wrong input, muted hardware, or a bad output route before the meeting gets dragged into an avoidable audio check.

Microsoft also appears to be shipping it broadly. The roadmap entry says the feature is planned across standard worldwide deployments as well as GCC High and DoD, and it is tagged for general availability.

After the meeting, more control

The Copilot recap feature is aimed at organizations with stricter compliance and retention needs. Microsoft says recordings and transcripts will still be on by default, but admins can disable them at the tenant level, while organizers can turn them off during scheduling or in live meetings through AI Mode controls.

There is a real limit here. The feature still requires a commercial Microsoft 365 Copilot license that costs $30 per user per month, so it is clearly aimed at customers already paying into Microsoft’s AI stack.

Who will notice first

For most users, the mic test will be the part that feels instantly useful because it fixes a problem that shows up in nearly every kind of call. For enterprises, the bigger signal is the recap update, especially where storing meeting data creates legal or security headaches.

If both rollouts land on time, Microsoft will have improved the start of the meeting and tightened control over what happens after it ends.

Smart locks are on the increase, with a growing number of devices of all different types.

While there’s some obvious, ingrained concern about them, security isn’t the issue you might think it is, and smart locks are a good upgrade for any home.

What you should worry about is the hardware and features; here are both the features that I absolutely avoid and absolutely insist on.

Make sure there’s a proper manual override with a key

Unless it’s on a door that I can either bypass (say a back door) or can work around (say a shed door), then don’t buy a smart lock that you can’t operate from the outside with a proper manual override.

The Yale Conexis L2 is a good example of this. I had the original Conexis L1, which is a very sleek-looking smart lock designed for lift-to-lock doors. In many ways, it’s great, but the issue with the L1 and the L2 is that there’s no manual keylock on the outside.

Twice during my time with the Conexis L1, the lock failed completely, and I had to bend the security covers off my office door’s hinges to unscrew them and gain entry; the other option would have been to have the expensive lock drilled out, breaking it in the process.

If there had been an old-fashioned key lock on the outside, I could have used a key to unlock the door and regain entry, which would have been much easier. While I didn’t have any problems with the Conexis L2 during review, the lack of a manual override means that I would never install it.

I do use a Yale Keyless Connected on my shed door. This has a keypad for entry, but the only manual override option is to use a 12V to try and power the lock in the event of an issue. However, if the lock did fail, then there’s also no manual override. So, why do I use this one?

The shed isn’t as important as my office, and it has standard hinges on the outside, so I could knock out the pins and gain entry that way. Overall, the convenience of the smart lock outweighs any risk in this situation.

Likewise, the Conexis lock might work for you if you have a backdoor that you could use in an emergency, manually unlocking the front door when you get in.

Get a lock that doesn’t just rely on a phone for entry

Operating a lock from your phone is useful. I can open my smart lock from anywhere in the world, letting people in when I’m not there. Or I can give people remote access via the app if needed. It’s brilliant, but don’t rely only on a phone app.

You can lose your phone, the app can stop working, or you can simply run out of charge. Then, what do you do when you get home? As discussed above, you can have a spare key, but it’s much more useful to have a lock with an optional keypad you can install outside, such as the SwitchBot Lock Ultra or the Ultion Nuki 2025.

A keypad (whether it’s operated by PIN, fingerprint or facial recognition) gives a simple override at the door. I often unlock my office (secured with an Ultion Nuki 2025) using a fingerprint, as it’s often more convenient.

And, keypads tend to have lock buttons, so you can go out, shut your door and then press the lock button without having to fish out a phone.

Of course, if you do use your smart lock’s auto lock feature, the keypad means you can get back in if you accidentally get locked out.

Be wary of retrofit locks that operate with a key

Many retrofit locks are designed to stick on the inside of the door, operating an unlock mechanism. In some cases, this means inserting a key in the lock and then having the smart lock turn that to lock/unlock.

Sounds simple, right? In one way, yes, but the problem with this setup is that locks can’t have a key used in both sides at the same time. That’s important. Say you come home from work, try to unlock your door, but find that the smart lock has stopped responding or has run out of power. You insert a key from the outside, only to find you can’t turn the lock to unlock it.

I use a Yale Linus on my second office door, which turns a key. From the outside, inserting a key and giving it a bash will just about pop the internal key out far enough for me to turn the lock. However, since it’s a secondary door, it’s not a real issue: if there’s a problem, I can unlock the main door, get in, and fix the lock.

For main doors, if your original lock had a thumb turn, you should be alright with a retrofit lock: the smart lock controls the thumb turn, but the key option remains available from outside.

To improve security, you should get a lock with a new cylinder: the Ultion Nuki 2025 comes with Brisant Secure’s 3 Star Lock cylinder that can be operated with a key from outside.