2024 Show
Alison Schapker & Diane Ademu-John · United States of America · English, French
Two sisters shift the balance of power in this Dune prequel series
With the popularity of the Villenueve films, it’s no surprise that Warner Bros. Discovery would want to expand on the Dune franchise. Because of this, they decided to make HBO’s Dune: Prophecy– a mini-series centered around the mysterious Bene Gesserit. It’s an interesting premise, with the group’s strange supernatural powers, and it makes sense for HBO, too. After all, they love to make shows centered around power plays, deception, and the upper class. So it’s not surprising that Prophecy is more-or-less the same, albeit sandy and sci-fi flavored. There are some anachronicities to the series– after all, technology ten thousand years from the Dune movies should feel a bit more different– but Dune: Prophecy is not terrible, especially with the excellent performances of Emily Watson and Olivia Williams.
Ten thousand years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen establish the fabled sect and female order that would become known as the Bene Gesserit to control the future of humankind.
"“Prophecy” cannot hope to equal Villeneuve’s aesthetic accomplishments. But at its best, the show does justice to the intricate politics and ethical debates that form a cornerstone of Frank Herbert’s fictional universe."
— Alison Herman
10,000 years before Paul Atreides ascends to the throne, the Harkonnen family are sentenced to exile for running away from the war against the thinking machines. Because of this, sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen establish the Bene Gesserit, the socio-political truthsayer sect that aims to breed the perfect leader and put one of their own on the throne.
The introduction is a bit clunky, but it gets better as the series progresses.
It won’t compare to the films, but it’s a fairly decent series to tide yourself over the next few years, at least until Dune Messiah.
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
Does a good job in its interpretations of the books. The acting,too, is exceptional. The Empire feel for me is a little underwhelming and patchy even taking into account its earlier epoch. Perhaps, it lacks galactic empire visual pageantry and pomp. Like a slightly underdone omelette ,in that, it’s eatable but could have been more richer and firmer in taste and texture. I’ve been a Duney since reading the first book in the mid sixties and anything concerning the Duneverse concerns me.
So then, it is very good but, alas, it is pales under the shadow of Dune 2.