Is Robert Pattinson trying to make us forget Twilight

We continue toward the “Dunesday” apocalypse absolutely no one asked for, with Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday opening on the same day in December. I feel intense dread about this. You know me, I want to check the f-ck out in December, not deal with two of the biggest movies of the year at the same damn time. Alas. Between the two of them, I am more excited for Dune: Part Three, which isn’t saying the most because I am fairly neutral on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise so far; the films are impeccably crafted but suffer from some baked-in thematic issues inherited from Frank Herbert’s books. I have LIKED the two Dune movies so far, but not LOVED them, though I know there is a passionate audience for Villeneuve’s vision.

A new trailer for Dune: Part Three teases the (probable) conclusion of Villeneuve’s story—“probable” because maybe there will be a Children of Dune thing eventually—and sees Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides as a hardened warlord. Narratively, we are finally approaching Herbert’s “trick”, in which it turns out that Paul is not a white savior after all. In the books, Herbert lands his message very well, that we should be wary of charismatic leaders and mistrust those who seek ultimate power because no matter their stated intention, there’s a chance they will end up with, well, ultimate power.

Part Three is adapting Dune Messiah, which is the Dune book I like the best. I am predisposed to like this movie the most out of the trilogy, but another inherent issue facing Villeneuve, who collaborated with Brian K. Vaughan on the screenplay this time around, is that there is just so much going on that these movies inevitably end up feeling overstuffed. Part Three will undoubtedly have an epic runtime to match the epic scope of the production, but there is just so much material to cover. To date, Villeneuve & Co. have not solved the problem of concisely rendering Dune into feature films. Maybe that will change with Part Three, but I doubt it. It’s just so much story.

Besides Chalamet, the new trailer also shows off the return of Zendaya as Paul’s lover, Chani; Florence Pugh as Paul’s wife, Princess Irulan; Jason Momoa is returning as Not Duncan Idaho (this will make sense later); Javier Bardem is back as Stilgar, Paul’s most faithful follower/enabler; and we get a glimpse of Anya Taylor-Joy, who has a full role this time around as Alia Atreides, Paul’s sister. We also get our best look yet at Robert Pattinson as Scytale, who plots to assassinate Paul.

Dune: Part Three certainly looks grand and very beautiful, there is no question these films are expertly crafted. It’s kind of crazy that we’re getting new epic films from Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, two of the best technical filmmakers working today, in the same year, and that Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are in both of those films (they’re in three films together this year, counting The Drama). Even crazier when you consider that RPattz is playing scuzzbucket plotters in both, too.

We’re really getting some great RPattz performances this year, it’s truly an embarrassment of riches. He’s in every other movie this year, giving the performance of his life every time. It’s like he’s trying to cement his reputation as one of his generation’s best actors before the 20^th anniversary of Twilight reminds everyone of the janky teen movie in which he got his big break. LOL, Rob, we’ll never forget Twilight. Hold on tight, spider monkey!