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Anya Taylor-Joy has confirmed she’ll be starring in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Messiah, which is expected to be released in 2027. She made the announcement at CCXP in Brazil, where she was promoting her appearance in The Gorge, a forthcoming thriller.

The Dune trilogy is a screen adaptation of a sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert that had been published in 1965. The saga follows the story of Paul Atreides as he allies with the Fremen people on the desert planet Arrakis to wage war against House Harkonnen. Taylor-Joy made a brief cameo appearance in Dune: Part Two, where in a vision she portrayed the grown-up Alia Atreides, the daughter of Jessica and the younger sister of Paul. In that installment, Jessica was played by Rebecca Ferguson and Paul was played by Timothée Chalamet

Villeneuve took many liberties with his adaptation, considerably reducing the role of Alia Atreides. The director had confirmed at the Venice Film Festival in 2021 that he was planning to make a third film in the series. He began writing a script for the film in 2023, and said it was “almost finished” in February of this year. In April, buoyed by the commercial and critical success of Dune: Part Two, Legendary Pictures confirmed that Dune: Messiah was in development. Composer Hans Zimmer has been working on a score for the film.

Villeneuve co-authored the script for Dune: Part Two with Jon Spaihts. The film was released in the United States in March of 2024. It grossed $714.4 million at the global box office, making it the fourth highest grossing movie of 2024. The American Film Institute selected it as one of the top 10 films this year, and it received two nominations at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.

The 28-year-old Taylor-Joy made her breakthrough in 2015 with a leading role in the horror film The Witch. She later appeared in the horror film Split (2016) and its sequel Glass (2019). The actress also played in the black comedy film Thoroughbreds (2017) and in the television crime drama series Pesky Blinders (2019-2022).

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