Dune: Prophecy’ warns us about charismatic leaders and killer AIThe HBO prequel fills in the vast universe of “Dune”— but has our own galaxy in mind, too.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/2024/11/15/dune-prophecy-hbo-series/
Dune: Prophecy | Official Series Trailer | Max
“Dune: Prophecy” brings us right back into the sprawling universe of Dune. Gigantic sand worms, sword fights and sweeping planets — it’s all there. Okay, not the impersonation-inspiring Paul Atreides. We’re 10,000 years before the events of Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune” and its megahit movie adaptations. But the sparring between great houses, the shadowy conspiracy of powerful women, the — hrm, how best to put it? — space drugs will immediately feel familiar.
The HBO series, which premieres Sunday, doesn’t just deepen the lore of Denis Villeneuve’s two “Dune” films. It seems to have our own world in mind, too. Say, its politics. And its technology. Where a few interesting things have been going on.
“I think ‘Dune’ is a very interesting window to look at … what if the worst-case scenario happened?” says showrunner Alison Schapker.
“Dune: Prophecy” mainly focuses on the Sisterhood, a group of women who eventually become the Bene Gesserit (who, by the time of the main “Dune” storyline, use their mind-controlling powers and talent for shaping the religious beliefs of far-flung societies to control galactic politics).
While the show primarily focuses on the early days of the Sisterhood, it also spends a great deal of time with House Corrino, which rules the Imperium. We also meet some members of House Harkonnen (the villains of “Dune”), House Atreides (the ostensible heroes) and hear whispers of the Fremen and Arrakis (the desert people and their desert planet).
If you’ve read the “Dune” novels or seen the recent films, you’re well-equipped to understand everything that’s happening. But you don’t need to have read any of Herbert’s six “Dune” books to feel caught up. If you’re a true completist, Schapker says the 2012 novel “Sisterhood of Dune” by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson was a slight inspiration for “Prophecy.”
As the “Game of Thrones” spin-off “House of the Dragon” did with the Targaryen family, “Prophecy” offers an origin story of an important group, in this case the Bene Gesserit, whose fingers are all over “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two.” In addition to training its recruits to learn telepathy and telekinesis, the witchlike faction looks to gain influence across the galaxy by creating stories of fake prophets, which Paul Atreides will use thousands of years later to take over the sandy world of Arrakis and assume control of the Imperium. We knew the how of the Bene Gesserit. “Prophecy” gives us the why. (We also learn why the Atreideses and Harkonnens dislike each other so much. Helpful!)
And like “The Penguin,” the recent HBO spin-off show of the 2022 film “The Batman,” this show exists on its own, exploring an unfamiliar corner of a fictional universe. You see new worlds (like Wallach IX), meet new people (like the Corrinos) and learn new things (like how humans defeated their machine oppressors — which explains why in the “Dune” universe, practically unique among sci-fi franchises, there are no computers).
Schapker first got involved with “Prophecy” in summer 2022, she said, and spent the next year filming the show, which wrapped post-production in January. The large cast includes Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Mark Strong, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May and many, many more. One challenge: making a show that could complement the “Dune” movies but manage to run for multiple season.
Another: cramming the vast and immersive settings of “Dune” onto the small screen. “We’re building out our own time period,” she said. “We’re going to planets that the movies don’t go to and, you know, [we’re] trying to tell a story that holds its own but is also suited to television.”
The parallels to events in our own time are purposeful, which is a very “Dune” move. Herbert’s original 1965 novel philosophized about the environment, politics, religion and more.
For one thing, the show opens with scenes of the human war against advanced machines and artificial intelligence. From there, “Prophecy” mainly focuses on a post-AI world, where humans have outlawed computers but are still grappling with how to act and live without them.
“They are stepping up to push the boundaries of what it means to be human,” Schapker said. “They’re asking themselves, what does it mean to be human in relationship to technology? And what do we lose by giving over our thinking, and outsourcing our thinking, to machines?”
The new realities of this status quo are seen when the 9-year-old boy Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) accidentally lets an AI-controlled lizard run through a reception hall, which causes a panic among the guests. In this era of “Dune,” the specter of machines can be leveraged as a political weapon to gain power.
Amid this landscape, the Sisterhood plot out their long game, arranging marriages between powerful families as they eye power. However it goes for them, viewers know how it works out: In “Dune,” Paul Atreides will eventually use their own false prophecies against them.
That’s a lesson “Prophecy” looks to share, too.
“‘Dune’ asks us to question the stories we tell about charismatic thinkers and leaders and our institutions,” Schapker says. “What is really driving them? What do they say is driving them? What’s really underneath?”
DUNE: THE OFFICIAL MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL TRAILER
Dune: Part One | Official Trailer - 2021
Dune: Part Two | Official Trailer - 2024
Dune (2000) Miniseries Trailer - (SyFy or Sci-Fi channel)
Modern Trailer to celebrate David Lynch's DUNE from 1984
DUNE Official Trailer [1984]
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