Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve has become one of the biggest names in Hollywood over the past decade, and this second Dune film is new ground for him--it's his first-ever sequel that he's directed. The question now, as Dune: Part Two hits theaters to near-universal acclaim from critics, including me, is how many more does he want to make?

It's not a question with an easy answer today. These first two Dune films work as a companion because they both adapt the original Dune novel and essentially function as one very long film. The third movie would move on to the next book, Dune Messiah, and Villeneuve isn't necessarily going to even direct that one, even though he's already working on the screenplay.

"I really tried to make Part One and Part Two, like, in my mind, it could be a finished story. I could walk away from Dune and feel that I went there, I went to Arrakis, I said what I had to say about Arrakis," Villaneuve told me when I asked him about his long-term plans. "But I feel that, and I felt that as I was doing Part One, that it could be a great idea to do a third movie with Dune Messiah, where I will finish Paul Atreides' arc, completely finish it. And so there will be a possibility for me to go back a last time. I think that it's in the works right now. And if we manage to do a strong screenplay, I would go back."