New ‘Dune’ Trailer Goes Big for Villeneuve’s IMAX Finale

By Elliot Nash - News

Updated: 9 July, 2026

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Readtime: 4 min

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• Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have released the new trailer for Dune: Part Three, bringing Denis Villeneuve’s trilogy to a close.
• The film is set nearly two decades after Paul Atreides seized control of the Imperium.
• Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Pattinson and Javier Bardem star.
• Dune: Part Three opens in North America on 18 December 2026, with international release beginning 16 December 2026.

If any film on the horizon can go toe-to-toe with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for sheer IMAX-scale ambition, it’s Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three.

The new trailer from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures picks up nearly two decades after Paul Atreides seized control of the Imperium. Sand, war, prophecy, political collapse, giant worms, whispering dread, the trailer has it all. But instead of just making everything bigger, it makes all that big stuff feel deeply personal.

Chani is furious. Hayt thinks Paul can’t be saved. And Paul, now ruling as a ruthless Emperor, is starting to understand that taking power and living with it are two very different things.

What Happens in the Dune: Part Three Trailer?

From the moment the trailer begins, Paul is not being treated like a hero. No longer framed as the young heir, the survivor or the chosen one. He’s the Emperor, the man everyone is now measuring against the damage done in his name.

But for all that power, we start with Chani telling him exactly how she feels. “I trusted you,” she says before reminding Paul of his promise never to take power in his own name.

Then there’s Hayt, played by Jason Momoa, who tells Paul he has “conquered the galaxy” and “destroyed thousands of worlds”. But Hayt isn’t afraid to tell Paul he’s “way beyond redemption.”

For a trailer packed with such immense scale, it’s these lines of dialogue from the people close enough to Paul that cut through.

A Proper Blockbuster With Personal Stakes

Of course, there’s still plenty of blockbuster movie machinery to enjoy. Robert Pattinson’s Scytale appears to be circling imperial power like a certain senator from a galaxy far, far away; there’s a peace proposal from Hayt that may not be as peaceful as it sounds; and the word “regime change” gets thrown around with the sort of casual menace you would expect in this world.

Not to mention the gargantuan set pieces, from large-scale intergalactic warfare to grim images of bodies left behind. Spacecraft zip by massive temples, shrines and monuments towering above the landscape. Hayt clashes with Paul in a tightly staged fight scene. Weary soldiers appear stranded on a beach, looking like the war has already swallowed them. And Chani stops a sandworm in its tracks.

Book readers will no doubt have a better idea of where all this is heading. For everyone else, the trailer does enough: it looks enormous, strange and properly ominous.

Who Stars in Dune: Part Three?

Timothée Chalamet returns as Paul Atreides, with Zendaya as Chani, Jason Momoa as Hayt, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides, Robert Pattinson as Scytale and Javier Bardem as Stilgar. The cast also includes Isaach de Bankolé and Charlotte Rampling.

Villeneuve is directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Brian K. Vaughan, based on Frank Herbert’s novels. Dune: Part Three opens in North America on 18 December 2026, with international release beginning 16 December 2026.