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22 Years Later, ‘Dune Part 3’ Has the Chance to Do Something That Hasn’t Been Done Since Lord of the Rings

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The hype behind Dune: Part Three may be extreme, but it also happens to be warranted. Director Denis Villeneuve focused all his powers of filmmaking and became the Kwisatz Haderach of cinema with his sci-fi films. Both Dune: Part One and Part Two fire on all cylinders, and in 2026, the final entry of the franchise is looking to do the same. This could mean that Part Three might do the impossible and clinch the sought-after award that even Paul Thomas Anderson didn’t get until this year.

Franchise films rarely get recognized for Best Picture, especially when they are the last entry in a trilogy. The last time this happened was in 2003 when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swept that year. The final film in the trilogy earned Best Picture when the other films in the series hadn’t. Dune was a frontrunner for the award last time around but did not secure the accolade. Now it is Villeneuve’s last chance in the Dune saga to achieve what the series has been building toward.

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‘Dune’ is a Timeless Story Practically Made for the Oscars

Like The Lord of the Rings before it, Dune uses its genre to tell a story that is more timely than ever. While the fantasy franchise tackled fascism, Dune is notable for its criticism of idol worship and religious zealotry. This is the type of story that never goes out of style, considering Frank Herbert first wrote it half a century ago.































































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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World
Would You Survive?

The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Ten questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

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🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

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01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.





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02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.





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03

What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.





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04

Which of these comes most naturally to you?
Your strongest skill is your best survival asset — use it accordingly.





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05

How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.





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06

Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.





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07

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.





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08

A comfortable lie or a devastating truth — which can you actually live with?
Some worlds offer one. Some offer the other. Very few offer both.





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09

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.





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10

What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.





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Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. Read all five — your result is the one that resonates most deeply.

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💊

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things, the places where the official version doesn’t quite line up. In the Matrix, that instinct is the difference between life and permanent digital sedation. You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you. The machines built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.

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🔥

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you. You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.

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🌧️

Blade Runner

You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either. In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.

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🏜️

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, pattern recognition, political awareness, and an understanding that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic, earn its respect, and perhaps, in time, reshape it entirely.

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🚀

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re someone who finds meaning in being part of something larger than yourself. You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken. Whatever you are, you fight. And in Star Wars, that willingness is what makes the difference.

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Paul Maud’Dib Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) rises from a duke’s son to the greatest power in the universe. Burdened with the power of prescience, he becomes the very thing he meant to fight when he radicalizes an entire planet and becomes the supreme Emperor of the Imperium. Dune was a seminal novel that influenced the genre to such a degree that it inspired Star Wars and even George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. The first two parts of the series were near-perfect depictions of sci-fi, but Dune: Part Three has a chance to drive the series home.

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Adapted from Frank Herbert’s sequel, Dune Messiah, the third film will bring Paul’s story full circle as he comes to terms with the consequences of his actions. Part Three takes place 17 years after the previous film, when Paul first ordered his Fremen legions to bring the galaxy “to paradise.” In the new film, the Fremen are as fanatical as ever and have killed billions all in the name of Atreides.

Dune: Part Three looks to be a tour de force for Chalamet and the returning cast members. The conclusion of the trilogy will also bring Anya Taylor-Joy to the forefront as Alia Atreides, Paul’s eerie and mystical sister. Taylor-Joy appeared in all of one scene in Dune: Part Two, but will be central to Paul’s storyline in the new film.

Considered an “Abomination” because she was born fully sentient, Alia is arguably the only person who is 100% supportive of Paul. She is an incredible asset to his regime and just as dangerous as her older brother, which will be explored in the new film. With her acting prowess, Chalamet’s return to form, and Villeneuve’s mastery of film, Dune: Part Three should be a frontrunner in next year’s Academy Awards.


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Release Date

December 18, 2026

Director
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Denis Villeneuve

Writers

Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Frank Herbert

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