Supporters of Women’s Rights, get ready to celebrate some women’s wrongs. Because it sounds like HBO’s Dune prequel series, Dune: Prophecy, is set to explain the origins of the Denis Villeneuve film’s shadowy, magical group of women, the Bene Gesserit, and there’s going to be a whole lot of vengeance going on.
In new reporting from IGN, Dune: Prophecy star Emily Watson and the series’ showrunner and executive producer Alison Schapker break down some of the key differences and connections between the two recent Dune films, as well as the series’ source material, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s novel Sisterhood of Dune.
What Is Dune: Prophecy About And When Does It Come Out?
The six-episode series, co-produced with Legendary Television, will feature multiple timelines of the past, thanks to the Schools of Dune book trilogy. It will particularly focus, at least in this first season, on the dealings from book one, Sisterhood of Dune.
According to the official novel synopsis:
It is 83 years after the last thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium. The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of the disgraced Abulurd Harkonnen have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their noble family. Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School and, through a terrible ordeal, has become the first Reverend Mother. The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva use mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners. And Gilbertus Albans, ward of the hated thinking machine Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats…while hiding an unbelievable secret. Led by the fanatic Manford Torondo, the Butlerian movement, fiercely opposed to all forms of “dangerous technology,” sweeps across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.
“Sisterhood of Dune by Brian and Kevin is our seminal text,” explained Schapker, “but also the school’s trilogy [is important]. So Sisterhood of Dune, Mentats of Dune, Navigators of Dune [are] all works that we’ve drawn from.” Additionally, Schapker told IGN that she and the series’ creative team worked with Brian, the son of Dune creator Frank Herbert, and Anderson in order to really flesh out what ended up on the show in a way that felt true to the universe.
The show will focus primarily on Watson’s character, Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen, who runs a school on Wallach IX that trains women in the art and secrets of the Sisterhood. House Harkonnen and House Atreides are rivals, with the former blaming the latter for their familial fall from grace. This leads Valya to exact revenge upon them in the name of her family and restore their standing within the Imperium — by any means necessary (including eugenics).
Related
Dune: Prophecy Showrunner On How The Series Reveals The History of The Bene Gesserit
HBO’s Dune: Prophecy will unveil the secret history of the Bene Gesserit.
“She’s kind of a puppetmaster, manipulating the balance of power in the human world across the universe. She’s dictating the path that humanity is taking,” Watson explained. “It’s all pretty disturbing stuff, to be honest.”
Joining Valya on her journey will be her younger sister, Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen, played Olivia Williams. But, given that the series spans many decades, the two sisters will also have younger versions of themselves portrayed on screen, with Jessica Barden cast as young Valya, and Emma Canning as young Tula.
Dune: Prophecy will premiere on Sunday, November 17, at 9:00 PM on HBO and MA
