Dune 3 Takes Its Own Path From the Books, Cast Says

Denis Villeneuve's "Dune 3" borrows heavily from Frank Herbert's 1969 sequel novel "Dune Messiah," but it does not follow the book closely, according to Variety.

Zendaya told Variety the film has "a lot" that is "very true to the source material." She also said it has "departures" from the novel.

Robert Pattinson makes his "Dune" debut in the film as Scytale. Asked about criticism of the changes, he said: "You got to be kind of crazy if you're going to be picking fault with this one."

Timothée Chalamet offered a way of thinking about the trilogy's ending. "It didn't feel like the bar dropped at all, Denis just changed the location of the bar," he said. "This movie is its own thing."

The film opens in theatres on 18 December, distributed by Warner Bros. and produced with Legendary. Florence Pugh returns as Irulan, according to Variety.

The wider cast was already public earlier in the year. In March, Reuters reported that Zendaya, Javier Bardem and Anya Taylor-Joy were part of "Dune: Part Three," the day after a trailer arrived. A Rotten Tomatoes feature lists Isaach de Bankolé as Farok.

For readers new to the series, the books are where the story began, and the films are a fresh telling of them. Changing the source material is a choice a director makes early, long before the audience sees a frame. Here, the cast is making the case that the changes were deliberate, and that the film should be judged as its own work.

The film arrives in cinemas about six weeks from now. Anyone curious about how far it strays from Herbert's pages will be able to check for themselves on 18 December.