Dune: Prophecy Review: HBO's Character-Driven Series Goes Places the Films Couldn't

A sense of foreboding underscores Dune, Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction landmark. Working in a genre filled with civilization-saving heroes — and writing for a world filled with messianic religions — Herbert played up the dark side of protagonist Paul Atreides' journey from noble to exile to rebel leader via visions of his ascent's aftermath, and the cost paid in blood by those who would stand in his way. It's easier, and convenient, for adaptations to look past this element, as David Lynch's 1984 film did, but Denis Villeneuve made a different choice with Dune and Dune: Part Two, his recent two-part adaptation of Herbert's original novel. That Villeneuve has plans to continue adapting at least Herbert's first sequel, in which those dark visions start to be fulfilled, helps explain this, but capturing an unease with power, religion, and the relationship between the two isn't just a subtext of Dune; it's the book's controlling theme.

That hasn't been lost on the creators of Dune: Prophecy, HBO's new prequel series. Developed by Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker, with Schapker, a veteran of Alias, Fringe, The Flash, and other series, serving as showrunner, Dune: Prophecy takes place 10,000 years before the events of Dune but unfolds in a universe already defined by political machinations, religious mysticism, conspiracies, shifting alliances, economic disparity, and, of course, sandworms and spice. (What would any incarnation of Dune be without them?) Adapting, if loosely so far, the 2012 prequel novel Sisterhood of Dune, co-written by Herbert's son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, it's an expansive series set across many planets but one whose focus most frequently falls on the early days of the Bene Gesserit, the all-female religious order with considerable, and sometimes underestimated, superhuman powers.

8.6

Dune: Prophecy

at Max

Like

• Intricate plotting
• Strong themes
• Movie-quality production values

Dislike

• The pacing can seem a bit rushed in what may be an attempt to accommodate a short season

Emily Watson and Olivia Williams lead the cast as, respectively, Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen and her sister Tula Harkonnen. If those surnames look familiar from Dune, there's a good reason. They're not the last familiar names to pop up, either. The two have contrasting but largely complementary personalities (at least in the four episodes provided to critics). Valya gives the Bene Gesserit their forceful, and sometimes fearsome, public face (and, occasionally, mind-controlling voice). The quieter Tula operates mostly in her shadow, but not necessarily at her command. Both are driven, at least at first, by the desire to redeem their family name, which has fallen in fortune and power in the years after a destructive conflict with out-of-control, and now forbidden, Thinking Machines. (As fantastic as the Dune universe is, Hebert set it in our own future, and recent developments in AI give Dune: Prophecy an unexpectedly timely element.)

From the ashes of that war, the Corrino family has emerged as rulers of the Imperium, though its grasp on power isn't exactly firm. Headed by Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong) and Empress Natalya (Jodhi May) they begin the series in the process of betrothing their daughter Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) to the underage son of another family, with the understanding they'll marry after he comes of age. In the meantime, Ynez plans to join the Bene Gesserit, but subsequent events make all their plans look questionable. That's partly due to the arrival of Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a wild-eyed soldier who's returned from his time on the spice-rich planet of Arrakis with an agenda, some strange powers, and seemingly no fear of his actions having consequences.

The cast of characters goes much deeper (too deep to catalog here, though the many Bene Gesserit acolytes with intriguing backstories shouldn't be overlooked) but the opening episode sets up the various factions and players pretty efficiently, and the third episode, largely an extended flashback to Valya and Tula's early days (where they're played, well, by Jessica Barden and Emma Canning), helps fill in some more blanks while making the characters richer — and darker. It's the best episode of the series so far, but the surrounding episodes nicely balance breathless plotting with character development as the series hops from one corner of the galaxy to another.

ALSO READ: Everything we know about Dune: Prophecy

Dune: Prophecy works from an obvious model, but it's one that meshes well with Herbert's creation. With its far-flung locales, competing families, knotty plotting, and moral murkiness, it borrows heavily from the Game of Thrones playbook. It's a good playbook, though, and one the series uses to explore some themes all their own, particularly the role the Bene Gesserit sisterhood plays in shaping, and redirecting, the universe's patriarchal feudal order. One early scene encapsulates their role. While two leaders discuss plans, the Bene Gesserit Truthsayers accompanying them silently communicate what's really going to happen next. Sometimes those who think they're pulling the strings move under the direction of strings they can't see.

Within those first four episodes Dune: Prophecy establishes itself as an exciting, spectacle-heavy series driven by dramatic developments and intriguing secrets but also one with a deep distrust of power, those who wield it, and the belief systems in which religious devotion and political manipulation start to blur. If there's a nagging element, it's how closely the universe 10 millennia prior to the events of Dune resembles its own future both in structure and design — 10,000 years is a long time for little to change — but the extended running time gives Dune: Prophecy a chance to explore corners of that universe unseen in the film, from nightclubs filled with patrons high on spice to snowy planets whose economy appears to be based around the harvesting of hairy whales. It also allows room for a uniformly excellent cast, Watson and Williams particularly, to develop intriguing, conflicted characters whose every move is designed to reshape the future, and crush whatever stands in that future's way. It's a world in which belief masks an agenda and power comes at a cost paid by those who don't possess it.

Premieres: Sunday, Nov. 17 at 9/8c on HBO and Max
Who's in it: Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Mark Strong
Who's behind it: Alison Schapker, Diane Ademu-John
For fans of: Smart science fiction, feudal dramas, and Dune (of course)
How many episodes we watched: 4 of 6