Community tensions – and reports of both antisemitism and Islamophobia – have been rising in Australia since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has led to more than 72,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
There’s still nine months to go before audiences can return to Arrakis. Until then, Warner Bros. has released a trailer to hold us over.
“Dune: Part Three,” which takes place nearly two decades after the events of the sequel, promises more political upheaval, introduces a ruthless new villain and teases Paul and Chani’s future child, according to a trailer released Monday.
“Dune” stars Zendaya and Javier Bardem joined Denis Villeneuve to preview the trailer for the conclusion to his famed sci-fi trilogy. New cast members Anya Taylor-Joy and Robert Pattinson were also in attendance at the AMC event while Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Jason Momoa sent video messages.
“It’s a trailer launch? It looks like a premiere,” Villeneuve said during the event, which included a Q&A with the cast and was met by thunderous applause from the audience.
Zendaya, who stars in the films as Chani, a Fremen warrior, expressed excitement about the upcoming film, saying the “movies have meant so much to me over the years. I’ve literally been able to grow up in my entire 20s doing them, and so they have such a special place in my heart.”
Here’s everything to know about “Dune: Part Three.”
The trilogy’s final installment picks up 17 years after the second movie, though the trailer hints at continued war and political turmoil in Arrakis and beyond.
Paul Atreides, played by Chalamet, is dealing with the consequences of defeating the Harkonnens and becoming emperor, struggling with his role as the Fremen’s messiah.
The trailer hints at a possible future child between Paul and Chani. The pair, who are introduced as potential love interests in the first movie, were split up at the end of the second film, with Paul marrying Princess Irulan, played by Pugh, in a political move to ensure his ascension to the throne.
In the trailer, Chani asks Paul, “If we have a girl, what will we name her?” hinting at a possible reconciliation. In a pre-recorded video played during the event, Pugh addressed the love triangle, and asked Zendaya what her character thinks of Irulan’s marriage to Paul.
“You guys will just have to see for yourself what happens, because it’s quite the journey,” Zendaya said during the event.
At the heart of the third movie, Villenueve said, is a love story, adding that “the heartbeat of the film is still the relationship between Paul and Chani,” according to Deadline.
The trailer also offers a sneak peek at continued battles in the universe, even years after Paul, the “chosen one,” becomes emperor.
Jason Momoa returns as Hayt in “Dune: Part Three,” a clone of Duncan Idaho.
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
The final installment of the trilogy will hit theaters Dec. 18.
“Dune: Part Three” is inspired by “Dune Messiah,” the second novel in Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series. The first two films were adapted from the first novel.
Villeneuve had planned to temporarily step away from the “Dune” universe, but “felt a responsibility to finish the story” after seeing audience excitement for the second film, which was released in 2024, he said during the trailer launch. The first two movies were box-office hits, collectively grossing more than $1.1 billion worldwide. “Part Two” won two Oscars, and the first film earned six Oscars out of 10 nominations, primarily in the technical categories.
The third film “is a very different movie,” Villeneuve said during Monday’s event.
“It’s a good idea to come back to those worlds, not by nostalgia, but by urgency,” he said. “If the first movie was contemplation — a boy exploring a new world — and the second one is a war movie, this one is a thriller. It is action-packed and tense. More muscular.”
Robert Pattinson plays shape-shifting villain Scytale in “Dune: Part Three.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
The trailer’s exclusive screening was introduced via a video message by Chalamet, who said Villeneuve’s third film is “a true act of cinema.”
“This film would not exist without the master of cinema, the great artist that is Denis Villeneuve,” Chalamet said. “I’m not alone in saying thank you to Denis for his dedication in bringing the ‘Dune’ films to life — and now the ‘Dune’ trilogy to life.”
Momoa, who starred in the first film as Duncan Idaho before his character was killed off, will be back in the third installment, he announced in a video at the event. Taylor-Joy, who had a brief cameo in the second movie, will return as Paul’s younger sister Alia.
Pattinson will take on the role of shape-shifting villain Scytale. Pattinson said he got the job just months after he asked Zendaya how he could join the “Dune” cast while on set filming their black comedy “The Drama.” (The A24 movie opens April 3.)
“Everybody wants to work with Denis. He’s a master,” Pattinson said during the event. “When you see the scope and scale and ambition of these movies, like on set, you get why they feel like this on the screen. It’s just extraordinary.”
Anya Taylor-Joy plays Paul’s younger sister Alia.
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
ABC’s Sunday telecast of the 98th Oscars averaged 17.9 million viewers, ending a four-year streak of audience increases.
The figure from Nielsen is down 9% from the 19.7 million viewers who watched the telecast on ABC and Hulu in 2025.
After ratings for the Oscars cratered to an all-time low of 10.5 million viewers in 2021, the event’s audience levels ticked back up in recent years.
But the show has not topped 20 million viewers since 2019, as younger viewers are content to watch highlights of the ceremony on social media, rather than sit through a three-hour-plus telecast on traditional TV.
The awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood honored “One Battle After Another” for best picture, Michael B. Jordan for lead actor in “Sinners,” and Jessie Buckley for lead actress in “Hamnet.” Conan O’Brien was the host for the second straight year.
Critics said the ceremony was light on political statements about President Trump, whose name was not mentioned during the telecast. The show’s highlight was an extended “In Memoriam” segment that gave extra tribute to legendary actor and filmmaker Robert Redford and slain actor, director and producer Rob Reiner.
ABC had success in selling out the commercials for the Oscars, which is perennially the most watched non-sports telecast of the year. But the network will only have the event for two more years as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose to take a better financial offer from YouTube for the rights to the telecast starting in 2029.
O’Brien poked fun at the YouTube move. He closed with a video that shows him being appointed Oscars “host for life.” As he takes in the honor, poison gas seeps into the office he is given. After O’Brien’s lifeless body is wheeled out, a name plaque with a new host is put on the door. His successor is YouTube star Mr. Beast.
The United Farm Workers said it would not participate in celebrations of its founder Cesar Chavez amid what the labor union described as “troubling allegations” against the iconic Chicano figure.
The union, in a statement released Tuesday, did not detail the accusations against Chavez but said they were concerning enough for the organization to take action. But several events around the country honoring Chavez including events in Tucson, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio and San Bernardino have been canceled in recent weeks, with little explanation given by organizers.
The claims against Chavez “are incompatible with our organization’s values. Some of the reports are family issues, and not our story to tell or our place to comment on. Far more troubling are allegations involving abuse of young women or minors. Allegations that very young women or girls may have been victimized are crushing. We have not received any direct reports, and we do not have any firsthand knowledge of these allegations,” the union said.
Canceling events, the union said, would “provide space for people who may have been victimized to find support and to share their stories if that is what they choose.”
Chavez is a towering national figure credited with organizing and raising the lives of migrant farmworkers in California and beyond and giving voice to the struggles of Mexican Americans.
Bursting into national prominence in the mid-1960s in the San Joaquin Valley, Chavez galvanized public support on behalf of them after organizing community groups across Central and Southern California. For decades, agricultural laborers had lived in substandard housing and were paid terrible wages. Efforts to organize migrant laborers were usually crushed violently by farmers and local law enforcement.
Chavez and his associates joined a grape pickers’ strike in 1965 launched by Filipino organizers centered around Delano, the heart of California’s table grape crop. Those early years were marked by bitter and sometimes brutal incidents involving picketing farmworkers who screamed “Huelga!” — “Strike!”—and growers who vowed never to give in to Chavez and his movement.
Sen. Robert Kennedy and Cesar Chavez as Chavez ended a 25-day fast.
(Bettmann Archive)
That eventually transformed into a boycott that earned international attention. Chavez, drawing on his Catholic faith, fasted for 25 days in 1968 to draw attention to the violence swirling around the effort, ending it by sharing bread with then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Two years later, the UFW was able to secure contracts for more than 10,000 grape pickers.
Those successes made Chavez an almost mythic figure. The UFW flag — a stylized black Aztec eagle against a red background — became synonymous with the Chicano movement that was emerging at the same time. Posters and murals featuring Chavez’s beatific face sprouted in the Southwest and beyond. He traveled across the United States espousing his philosophy of nonviolence, union and dignity for farmworkers.
A 1983 poll of Latinos by The Times found Chavez to be the most admired leader.
But Chavez’s legacy became increasingly tarnished as the years went on. Labor victories became fewer and fewer. His fierce criticism of illegal immigration — Chavez argued that they undercut his unionization efforts — put him at odds with immigration activists. A 2006 Times investigation detailed how dozens of former associates and workers left the UFW because of what they described as Chavez’s increasingly autocratic ways.
Cesar Chavez talks to striking Salinas Valley farmworkers.
(Sakuma / Associated Press )
When the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided to change the name of Brooklyn Avenue in East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights to Cesar Chavez Avenue after the labor leader’s death in 1993, many in the community opposed it, citing the economic burden businesses would undergo to update their addresses and the erasure of the community’s history on the street.
Yet his standing among Latinos nationwide was such that schools, streets and parks were renamed in his honor in the years after his death. In 2012, President Obama went to tiny Keene, Calif. — where Chavez had set up both his home and the operational headquarters of the United Farm Workers — to dedicate the César E. Chávez National Monument.
It’s unclear the source of the new allegations or when they might become public. But there has been rumbling for weeks among activists that something about Chavez was coming.
A Corpus Christi march was called off last week after labor leader Dolores Huerta withdrew, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
Huerta is not commenting on the issue at this time, said Eric Olvera, spokesperson for Huerta.
The news comes two weeks before Cesar Chavez Day, observed March 31.
Local organizers in Los Angeles haven’t announced whether they will cancel their events.
The UFW was vague about the claims but suggested they were serious enough for extreme action.
“These allegations have been profoundly shocking. We need some time to get this right, including to ensure robust, trauma-informed services are available to those who may need it.
“We understand this will be tremendously painful for many and we encourage our community to seek mental health support if they experience distress.”
Tuesday morning, the Cesar Chavez Foundation said in a statement that it had “become aware of disturbing allegations that Cesar Chavez engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with women and minors during his time as President of the United Farm Workers of America.”
The foundation said it was working with leaders in the farmworker movement to be responsive to these allegations and support the people who might have been harmed.
“In partnership with the UFW, we are establishing a safe and confidential process for those who wish to share their experiences of historic harm, and, if they choose to, participate in efforts toward repair and reconciliation,” the statement said. “In addition, we are investing time and resources to ensure the Foundation promotes and strengthens a workplace culture that is safe and welcoming for all.”
In the 48 hours before the UFW and Cesar Chavez Foundation made their statements, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, a community-based union and nonprofit in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, which was founded by Huerta and Chavez, erased the names and affiliation with the leaders from its website.
The new allegations could have implications beyond Chavez’s place in history. If he has been accused of sexual abuse, a legal expert said it could spark legal claims against the union he ran for so long.
In California, Assembly Bill 250 opened a two-year window to file sex assault claims beyond a previous statute of limitations. The Catholic Church, Scouting and public school districts, as a result, have been hit hard with lawsuits.
“It is [a] matter [of] who knew what and when,” said John Manly, a sexual abuse attorney, adding that Chavez’s leadership role could create liability for the UFW.
Athletes in T-shirts, fans applying suncream – have these been the Summer or Winter Paralympics?
If you were to listen to American Patrick Halgren, who called the conditions at the Milan-Cortina Games “tropical” and “like surfing”, you would think the former.
Until you were told he is a skier.
Since the 1992 Games, the Winter Paralympics have always been held in March, usually starting just shy of a fortnight after the conclusion of the Winter Olympics.
That means conditions during the Games have often been more spring-like than winter, with temperatures peaking at 26C four years ago in Beijing.
While such temperatures have not been felt in Cortina, it has been warm, and until a huge dump of snow fell the night before Sunday’s final day of competition, snow had only been seen on the groomed competition pistes.
A blazing sun on several days of competition, mixed with some rain, had caused snow on the courses to turn soft and slushy, which in turns sticks to athletes’ skis and snowboards.
Last weekend a third official training session for the Para-alpine skiing downhill events was cancelled in a bid to maintain the piste conditions.
While many athletes have praised the efforts of organisers to keep the tracks in as good a condition as possible, conditions on Friday during the men’s giant slalom events were far from ideal, with British visually impaired skier Fred Warburton describing it as a “bathtub of Slush Puppie”.
His guide, James Hannan, said: “The snow surface was changing every single gate, so we never knew how the ski was going to react.
“It was almost like survival of the fittest.”
It certainly proved that way during the sitting event, which followed the visually impaired and standing races: 18 athletes from a field of 37 failed to make it to the bottom of the course.
“The organisers need to look at scheduling with obvious changes of the climate that we’re experiencing,” said Warburton.
“Both the Olympics and Paralympics want to be top spectacles of skiing and allow athletes to put their best work down.
“We need to look at the schedule and move it forward in future. That’s way beyond my pay grade, but it seems pretty logical to me.”
Warburton’s words echoed those of retired American Paralympic snowboarder Amy Purdy, who this week said in a video on TikTok: “I don’t believe that the Paralympics should be happening right now.”
Her comments came after the snowboard cross course had to be adjusted following numerous crashes in training, partly because of its design but also the warm conditions.
The L.A. Times Festival of Books is back for its 31st year.
The event will feature authors, poets, artists and podcasters across panels, book signings, cooking demonstrations and screenings. This year’s lineup includes comedian Larry David, actor and Booker Prize judge Sarah Jessica Parker, musician Lionel Richie, Beyoncé’s mother and multihyphenate Tina Knowles, bestselling author and social critic Roxane Gay and News & Documentary Emmy- and Peabody-nominated scholar Reza Aslan, among others.
Scheduled for April 18 and 19, the literary festival will feature more than 550 storytellers and nearly 100 panels across the University of Southern California’s campus.
Other notable personalities include: Pat Benatar, Blippi, Mark Harmon, David Duchovny, Susan Lucci, Jennie Garth, Hannah Brown, Anne Lamott, Chanel Miller, Lisa Rinna, Stephanie Garber, Jon Klassen, Mac Barnett, Meghan Quinn, Hayley Kiyoko, Megan McDonald, Elyse Myers, Eli Rallo, Raegan Revord and Molly Jong-Fast.
As part of the Ideas Exchange speaker series, Richie will sit down with Times Pop Music Critic Mikael Wood, to discuss “Truly,” Richie’s new memoir. The book explores the singer’s upbringing in Alabama and his rise to stardom, including performing with the Commodores.
On Saturday, Sarah Jessica Parker and Alexandra Oliva join the festival to discuss Oliva’s new SJP Lit novel “The Radiant Dark.” The following day, Larry David and Times News and Culture Critic Lorraine Ali will talk about Ali’s new book, “No Lessons Learned: The Making of Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
This year’s event will debut the Audiobook and Podcast Stage presented by Spotify, hosting talent like “Crimes of The Times” host and Times writer Christopher Goffard and “Remarkably Bright Creatures” bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt. The festival will also screen a preview of the Hulu show “Rivals,” which will be followed by a discussion between producer and writer Dominic Treadwell-Collins and actor Nafessa Williams.
At the Times Food Stage, Cassandra Peterson, known for her work as Elvira, will be demoing from her book “Elvira’s Cookbook From Hell.” Culinary influencer Cassie Yeung will also be stopping by to discuss recipes from her new Asian takeout cookbook “Bad B*tch in the Kitch.”
The festival will kick off April 17 with The Times hosting the 46th annual L.A. Times Book Prizes at Bovard Auditorium. The ceremony will honor Amy Tan with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, We Need Diverse Books with the Innovator’s Award and Adam Ross with the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose. The prizes recognize 61 works in 13 categories.
General admission to the festival is free. Friend of the Festival packages, which include panel reservations, parking and merchandise, are currently on sale.