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Denis Villeneuve appeared on Vanity Fair’s “Little Gold Men” podcast and stressed that he doesn’t see an upcoming third “Dune” film based on Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune Messiah” being developed as the completion of a trilogy. Legendary confirmed in April that development on “Dune 3” was underway following the box office success of “Dune: Part 2,” which grossed $711 million worldwide earlier this year.

“First of all, it’s important for people to understand that for me, it was really a diptych,” Villeneuve said of the first two “Dune” films. “They were really two films that will be the adaptation of the first book. That’s done and that’s finished. If I do a third, which is in the process of being written, it won’t be like a trilogy. It’s strange to say that, but if I go back to that, it’s to make something that feels different and has its own identity.”

“Dune Messiah” takes place 12 years after the events of the first “Dune” novel, so a film adaptation would likely require aging up Villeneuve’s young cast, which includes Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and more. The director said “I know how to do that” when asked how he plans to age up the cast, but he didn’t share any details about his plan.