Duncan Idaho is back.
During an appearance on “TODAY,” Jason Momoa confirmed that his “Dune” character will return for the forthcoming third installment of Denis Villeneuve’s epic sci-fi franchise starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya.
“I’m making a comeback,” he told Craig Melvin on the broadcast Monday morning. “You heard it first, right here with you, baby.” Warner Bros. did not immediately return Variety‘s request for comment.
Momoa first appeared as the swordmaster and mentor to Chalamet’s Paul Artreides in 2021’s “Dune,” but Duncan sacrifices himself near the end of the film to allow Paul and his mother Jessica to escape from Sardaukar soldiers.
In the six-part book series from Frank Herbert, Duncan eventually returns in the form of a clone. Melvin asked Momoa if Duncan’s reappearance would follow suit, to which Momoa replied, “Well, I’m not sure if I’m going to get in trouble or not, but it’s the same thing like ‘Game of Thrones’, you know what I mean?” he said. “If you didn’t read the books, it’s not my fault, right? Yeah, there’s going to be … I’m going to be coming back.”
Legendary confirmed in April 2024 that development on “Dune 3” was underway following the blockbuster success of “Dune: Part 2,” which grossed $711 million worldwide earlier that year.
Villeneuve said last year that the third film, based on “Dune: Messiah,” will not be the completion of a trilogy in his eyes. “First, it’s important that people understand that for me, it was really a diptych,” Villeneuve said of the first two “Dune” movies. “It was really a pair of movies that will be the adaptation of the first book. That’s done and that’s finished. If I do a third one, which is in the writing process, it’s not like a trilogy. It’s strange to say that, but if I go back there, it’s to do something that feels different and has its own identity.”
From Variety US