Batman star Robert Pattinson finally confirms Dune 3 casting and reflects on filming the sequel in the desert: “It was so hot… I did not have a single functioning brain cell”

We have suspected for a while now that The Batman star Robert Pattinson will appear in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune 3 thanks to his casting being reported earlier in the year. However, the actor has now finally confirmed the news.

After complimenting his Die My Love co-star Jennifer Lawrence on her ability to remember lines, Pattinson said to IndieWire, “When I was doing Dune, it was so hot in the desert that I just couldn’t question anything. And it was so relaxing, like my brain actually wasn’t operating, I did not have a single functioning brain cell.”

Now, if that isn’t the most blasé way to confirm your involvement in one of next year’s most anticipated movies, we don’t know what is. Although the news has yet to be confirmed by director Villeneuve or Warner Bros., it has long been rumored that Pattison is playing a character named Scytale in Dune: Part 3.

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In author Frank Herbert’s second Dune book, titled Dune: Messiah, in which the upcoming movie is based, Scytale is a Tleilaxu Face Dancer who leads a conspiracy against Paul Atreides. By aligning himself with the Guild Navigator and the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, Scytale plans to dethrone Atreides through either assassination or abdication. Dune 3 won’t be the first time the character has been brought to the screen, as Scytale was played by Martin McDougall in the 2003 miniseries Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune.

Although the Dune team is keeping pretty tight-lipped, we do have a bit of an idea where the sequel will take us, thanks to Herbert’s works. Taking place 12 years after the events of Dune: Part 2, Dune: Messiah sees Atreides as a powerful Emperor who has conquered most of the known universe, and in turn has caused the death of 61 billion people. From that, we expect Timothée Chalamet’s Sandworm-rider to have racked up many more enemies from when we last saw him.

Dune 3 started filming in summer 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. However, by Pattinson’s comments, it sounds as though the DC star may have already finished his scenes. Alongside Chalamet, we expect Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Jason Momoa, and more to return.

Dune: Part Three is set to hit theaters on December 18, 2026. For more, check out our guide to the rest of this year’s biggest upcoming movies.