Mystery and intrigue have surrounded Max’s upcoming seriesDune: Prophecy, the prequel show toDenis Villeneuve’s acclaimed films based on the books byFrank Herbert. At this year’sNew York Comic Con, where they announced the show’s official release date andpresented the first trailer, Collider’sSteve Weintraubhad the opportunity to sit down with the creators and stars for a peak behind the veil.
StarsOlivia Williams,Emily Watson, andTravis Fimmeljoin showrunner and executive producerAlison Schapkerand EPJordan Goldbergto reveal the details behind this lore-rich idea that expands on the epic sci-fi.Dune: Prophecytells the origins of the Sisterhood that would go on to become the powerful order known as theBene Gesserit. In particular, the series focuses on two sisters of the mighty Harkonnen family, Valya (Watson) and Tula (Williams), who have “set themselves on this path to try and control the destiny of humankind.”
Check out the full conversation in the video above or in the transcript below for details on the series from Schapker and Goldberg, which episodes to keep an eye out for, plans for the future of the show, and even more of this “really tasty, delicious, complicated mess of a dish.”
When Does ‘Dune: Prophecy’ Take Place?
COLLIDER: A lot of people who are watching this have probably seen a trailer. They’ll know a little bit, but they won’t know that much. Who wants to bite the bullet and say what the show is about and when it takes place?
ALISON SCHAPKER: This show is about the origin of the Bene Gesserit, the sisters you might have seen in Denis [Villeneuve]’s movies if you watch them. We’re set 10,000 years before the film, but we’re in the distant future. We’re also 10,000 years, about, from now, and we are in the shadow of The Great Machine Wars. Humans have defeated artificial intelligence, and thinking machines are banned and now humanity is in a period of rebuilding. We sometimes joke that it’s the Dark Ages ofDune.The great schools are rising, and one of these great schools is the Sisterhood, the Bene Gesserit. We’re gonna get to see how they rose to power.
JORDAN GOLDBERG: In the middle of all this chaos is a Harkonnen, who is the second Reverend Mother, Mother Superior of the sisterhood.
When you guys go in with the show, how much is HBO Max asking about, like, a three-season plan? Do you have a long plan? What’s the arc of what you’re thinking about, and how much is it, “We’re making one season, and we’ll see how it goes?”
SCHAPKER: We do have a plan, and they’ve been eager to hear all of it.
GOLDBERG: They want it character-driven, they want it thought-provoking, and they just asked us to constantly make it surprising, propulsive, and visually breathtaking. When you say the wordDune,Dunerequires large-scale filmmaking. HBO, Max, Legendary, they never told us to pull back. They always told us to push and make it an epic, and that’s what we did.
OLIVIA WILLIAMS: They also say they haven’t destroyed the set in Hungary, so that’s always a good sign.
That’s very good.Exactly. I don’t think people realize if the sets are still standing then they believe it could continue. So, I’m gonna drill down. Do you have a three-year plan already?
WILLIAMS: A10,000-year plan. Timothée’s born.
SHAPKER: That’s so right. We’ve got plans within plans in every way, measured in centuries. No, I mean, we do. It will come as no news that our show centers around the Bene Gesserit, but when they’re called the Sisterhood, so we’re in this sort of incipient organization, and then how do they become the Bene Gesserit? That is a multi-season journey to be on, and that is very much the story we wanna tell.
GOLDBERG: Their moves are generational. They are in the long game, so there’s plenty of story to tell.
‘Dune: Prophecy’ Is a “Really Tasty, Delicious, Complicated Mess”
Jumping into your cast, I want to start by saying you guys all did great work in the two episodes that I saw. For each of you, what was it about this project and this story’s scripts that said, “I wanna be a part of this?”
EMILY WATSON: It was reading the story, and the scripts are a really, really tasty, delicious, complicated mess of a dish to get your teeth into because the Harkonnens are a very, very messed up family, right from the off. Valya and Tula Harkonnen have had a very traumatic childhood, all of which comes out as the story proceeds, and yet they have set themselves on this path to try and control the destiny of humankind. It feels as if they’re enabling themselves. There are no lengths to which they won’t go to do that. So, it has a lot of scope, put it that way, as an actor.
TRAVIS FIMMEL: I’ve always wanted to work with our Jordan. [Laughs] No, following on what Emily said, it’s very complex. Every character’s got flaws, every character’s very driven, and driven to get what they think they deserve. Everybody thinks they’re right when often everybody thinks they’re wrong. So, I think it’s very complex, and it’s a real watcher for the audience. It makes you think. Obviously, the visuals are stunning and beautiful, but it’s a story that I really fell in love with — and Jordan.
SCHAPKER: [Laughs] Good taste.
WILLIAMS: I just love that it’s about two families, each one wanting to control a piece of land, and the consequences go on for thousands of years. Let me think of a modern parallel with that… It’s telling human stories through myth and legend, and that’s what actors like to do.
In the first episode, you have to deliver a lot of information in the first 15 minutes. There’s a lot of story. One of the things that I compliment you on in both episodes is that you’re not watering it down for the audience. It’s likeDune; there’s a lot of stuff to get through. Can you talk about not watering it down and how you’re telling an adult story, and having all that information that you need to disseminate and get through?
SCHAPKER: Absolutely.Duneis so dense, it’s so well thought out, it’s so vivid, and it wouldn’t be Dune unless we embrace that aspect of it. It goes back to what the cast is saying, when you try and ground everything through character, I do believe it becomes more understandable. We really try to have multiple levels in the show, so if you’ve never seen the movies, or if you haven’t read the books, you can come in through these characters and discover the world. But for those who have, we want to have a rich, exciting, dense experience. That was really a needle we tried to thread quite consciously.
FIMMEL: I think these two did an amazing job of giving everybody a voice, as well. There are so many different characters going after different goals, and I think so many people latch on to different characters.
?WATSON: You can always tell when you gather for doing press and Comic Con, how pleased the cast are to see each other, and it’s just been a really fantastic reunion this morning to see the people who we’ve worked with. I think that’s very telling about how we work together as a cast and the scenes and the drama we created in front of these beautiful sets.
Keep an Eye Out for These ‘Dune: Prophecy’ Episodes
Which episode of the six are you most looking forward to fans seeing?
FIMMEL: I want them to get to the sixth, so the sixth.
WILLIAMS: You have to. You have to sit through to the sixth. There’s no option.
WATSON: Episode 3 has got some really, really strange, quite disturbing events in it, which seem to come from the fetid brain beside me.
SCHAPKER: I couldn’t choose between the episodes, but I do agree, we really did try and give each one their own its own identity or their own hour. I think they’re really robust and full episodes, and each one really changes things, so I don’t think any episode is filler. The world is different after every episode.
GOLDBERG: We are blessed with a tremendous cast. We’ve got two legends sitting right here that still give me shivers when I see them in person because that’s how important they are in my filmic life, and then a legend in the making back there, [Fimmel]. Every episode, they bring it.
How much did he give you to say that? Was it $5 or $10?
GOLDBERG: I will say for him when you see Episode 4, which ismyfavorite, he does some outrageous stuff in it. It’s quite good.
Dune: Prophecywill premiere on Max on November 17. In the meantime, you can watch or brush up onDuneandDune: Part 2on Max.
Dune: Prophecy
TV series set in the ‘Dune’ universe which centers on the lives of the Bene Gesserit.
