Fans Panic as Josh Brolin Is Officially Omitted From 'Dune: Part 3' Trailer

Image via Warner Bros.

Published Mar 18, 2026, 11:16 AM EDT

Adam Blevins began working in the entertainment industry in 2022 as a Staff Writer for Agents of Fandom, where he progressed to Senior Editor and interviewed talent from Marvel Studios, House of the Dragon, and Planet of the Apes. He joined Collider as a News Author in April 2024, was promoted to a Senior position in December 2024, and has written over 3,000 articles for the site, including exclusives relating to Avengers: Doomsday, The Penguin, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and more. He primarily writes about the latest box office numbers and the hottest movies and TV shows on streaming, while also covering superhero and sci-fi news. He has completed a set visit for The Chosen and even has several months of experience writing Gaming Features at ScreenRant. You can find him on X, LinkedIn, and Muckrack.

It’s been an exciting week for Dune fans, who were treated to the first look at the third installment in the sci-fi franchise from Timothée Chalamet’s personal Instagram. Warner Bros. followed yesterday by releasing the first full-length trailer for the film, which is slated to open in theaters on December 18. It’s scheduled on the same day as Avengers: Doomsday, marking one of the biggest opening weekends in movie history. The first Dune posters and trailer paint a much larger role for Anya Taylor-Joy, who will feature in only one scene in the threequel. It also shows the return of Jason Momoa, whose character Duncan Idaho died during the first film. He will star as Hayt, a clone of Duncan Idaho, along with another newcomer, Robert Pattinson.

There have been a few stars who have come and went through the first two Dune movies, like Austin Butler, who featured prominently in Dune: Part Two. Even Stellan Skarsgård was an integral figure in the first two films, but he will not have a role in the third due to his character’s death. The characters of Oscar Isaac and Dave Bautista have also faded into the sunset, but fans noticed another glowing absence from the trailer yesterday, one more unexpected. Despite having a key role in the first two Dune movies and the ending of Dune: Part Two, setting him up for a larger role in the third film, Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck was nowhere to be seen in the first trailer. The ending of Dune: Part Two sets up Halleck as a primary ally for Paul (Timothée Chalamet) in the Great War, but it seems as if his duties have carried him elsewhere.

Why Isn’t Josh Brolin in ‘Dune: Part Three’?

Some fans have speculated that it’s a scheduling conflict keeping Josh Brolin from Dune: Part Three, but this isn’s the case. Brolin was on the press tour for Weapons while Dune: Part Three was in production, and he expressed his disappointment at not being there with the rest of the Dune team. During the Dune: Messiah novel that Dune 3 is going to adapt, Gurney Halleck is back on Caladan, the home world of the Atreides. As a thank you to all Brolin has done for the Dune franchise during the first two movies, director Denis Villeneuve may give him a cameo, just to keep his legendary sci-fi streak alive.