Timothée Chalamet says Dune: Part Three felt like losing part of himself

Timothée Chalamet felt like he was "losing a part of himself" while playing Paul Atreides for the final time in Dune: Part Three.

The Oscar-nominated actor, who began filming Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic series in 2019, returns as Paul in the upcoming outing, which is set 17 years after the previous film and follows his rise to power as an emperor.

During a live-streamed global fan event on Wednesday, Chalamet admitted playing Paul one last time was "emotive" for him personally, and he felt like he lost a part of himself saying goodbye to a character he'd portrayed for seven years.

"This is the most emotive on a personal level, not necessarily the character, but I've been living with this for so long. I'm so proud to live with it and so proud to work with Denis and his family," he said, reports PA.

"I felt there was a finality in the exercise that I was kind of nostalgic about, even the moment, even though I was 29 when we shot this, it still felt like I was losing a part of me by getting through it."

Chalamet, 30, and Villeneuve participated in a Q&A in Los Angeles to celebrate the release of Dune: Part Three's latest trailer. The event was live-streamed to several cinemas around the world, including London, Chicago and Mexico City.

The Call Me By Your Name star also heaped praise on Villeneuve for making the third outing so soon after 2024's Dune: Part Two.

"I'm very grateful to this man," he continued, reports Gizmodo. "He could have taken years between these projects, and instead, he buckled in, and we got it done right away. And I'm a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I'm trying to imagine the last time someone knocked out three things so consecutively. And just very grateful to Denis and in Denis we trust."

The Arrival director admitted that he originally planned to take a few years off from the franchise after making the first two films, but he felt "an appetite and a joy and a desire to finish that story" and wrote the script "right away".

Dune: Part Three, based on Frank Herbert's book Dune Messiah, also stars Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy. It will be released in cinemas on 18 December.