Denis Villeneuve has explained why he said yes to the next James Bond film. In a new interview with Empire for its Dune: Part Three cover story, the director said Bond is the project he needed after three films on Frank Herbert’s desert planet.
What he said
Villeneuve told Empire that he went back for a third Dune film not out of nostalgia but to finish the story without becoming complacent. Bond, he said, is what comes after it: “I thought, ‘When it’s done, I need a very powerful rocket to pull me away from Arrakis.’ When I was asked to do the next Bond, I said: ‘Okay, this is what I need.’” Dune: Part Three opens in cinemas on 18 December 2026.
Where the next Bond film stands
Amazon MGM Studios announced Villeneuve as director on 25 June 2025, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing, Tanya Lapointe as executive producer and Steven Knight writing the script. The studio has not announced the actor who will play Bond, a title, a release date or a start date for filming. The interview says more about his appetite for the job than his plans for it, but in our view that appetite is a good sign.
For every officially confirmed detail, see our page on Bond 26: what is confirmed, and for the last film in the series, our No Time To Die page.