Welcome back to the blog readers. In case you have not known by this point, we were going to be getting an expansion to the Dune-iverse (that is totally a word that I did not just make up for the purpose of this post) with a series focused on the origins of the Bene Gesserit. The Denis Villeneuve films have been very good in my opinion (with Dune: Part Two (2024) most likely appearing in my top 5 films of the year), so my excitement for this series definitely shot through the roof once I saw that film. With all of that being said, would we find a series that was worthy enough of being in this Dune-iverse, or would it go the way of the thinking machines - extinct? Stick around to find out.
Dune: Prophecy was created for television by Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker, with Schapker serving as showrunner, based on Great Schools of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, and Dune by Frank Herbert. This season features direction from Anna Foerster, John Cameron, and Richard J. Lewis. The series stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Chloe Lea, Chris Mason, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Mark Strong, Jade Anouka, Edward Davis, Josh Heuston, Faoileann Cunningham, Aofie Hinds, and Mark Addy. In the series, set 10,000 years before the events of Dune (2021), sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen establish the fabled sect later known as the Bene Gesserit while contending with an enemy that threatens to destroy everything they have built.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the series.
Like I previously mentioned in individual episode reviews, I never expected or even wanted this film to be as good as the Villeneuve films, and that was for good reason. Normally, when you have a spinoff version of something that is beloved, it will clearly never be as good as the original. And that can be expected for a whole lot of the properties that get spinoffs. Take Game of Thrones (2011-19) and its spinoffs House of the Dragon (2022-) and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2025) as an example where it works. And that is most definitely the case here. While not as good as the Villeneuve films (and again, it did not need to be), this show was a thumbs-up in a thumbs-up/thumbs-down world. This was a solid series with a good story and very good performances overall, but one performance I want to single out is that of Travis Fimmel.
Now I will not lie to you and pretend that I was aware of any of the work that Travis Fimmel has done over his career thus far. I have heard of a lot of the projects he was in, however, and I knew that HBO were not getting some flake that was going to ruin it all for them. Look at some of the things he has done so far in his career: a starring role in Vikings (2013-17), a role in Warcraft (2016), a major role in Raised by Wolves (2020-22), and a fantastic and star-making performance in this show right here. I cannot say that I expected too much from him given that Mark Strong is in this series as well, but not even I expected to fall in love with the conniving character known as Desmond Hart. When we first meet Hart, he seems like a mild-mannered man that in his eyes went through something traumatic and came out a better person for it, but we quickly see that he is not as mild-mannered as he seems as he immolates a Truthsayer from the Sisterhood and the young heir to the Richese House with his mind. And I think Fimmel does a masterful job of playing up both sides for his own gain. As we get to see him in later episodes, he only gets more cunning, more conniving, and more powerful. And when he is on screen with Mark Strong's Padishah Emperor Javicco Corrino, it is instant chemistry and instant fireworks between the two. Fimmel even out-acts Strong in these scenes and it left me absolutely floored each time we got it, because not even I expected to see it happen. By the end of the show, we do see Fimmel display a complete understanding and a complete control over this character, and it made me really analyze what I thought about this character because he was doing a brilliant job of making you dislike Desmond. And his final scene with Olivia Williams's Tula Harkonnen is one that is full of possibility but also one of despair and tragedy. I really hope this show gets a second season because I would love to see this guy play this character again.
Even though the Villeneuve films are great with great stories (Part Two was listed as my second favorite of 2024), I thought that the story for this series was pretty good for what we got. I want to first touch up on the origins of the Sisterhood because it had dictated the entire events of the franchise up to this point. I do like how we got some answers regarding how the Sisterhood started and seeing how they really made a name for themselves. Seeing a bunch of strong women come together to shape the known universe in their image by manipulating major events is something that could possibly be considered barbaric, but I do find there to be something cathartic about it at the same time. Especially since the Sisterhood (later known as the Bene Gesserit) has always characteristically been a place where outcasts can be themselves and not have to worry about judgment. And I think that sentiment is echoed beautifully in the character of Raquella Berto-Anirul, the founder and first Mother Superior of the Sisterhood. She willfully accepted young women from around the universe with special abilities to have a place to belong, especially Valya Harkonnen, who would become the next Mother Superior of the Sisterhood through honestly nefarious means. But she did wind up maintaining Raquella's vision of giving young women with special abilities a place to belong, and that is one thing I can find myself appreciating about her.
Another thing I do find myself appreciating about this show is the fact that we do get some politically-charged action in this show, although it may not be as prevalent as I would have liked given we do spend a lot of time on Salusa Secundus. And no, I was not expecting to get a whole Game of Thrones (2011-19) ripoff that focused solely on the royal family and their adventures and stories, but I did just want to see a little more than we did. In the other Dune films, the political landscape of the universe is only hinted at but we never really see the machinations and the backroom chats and the stuff like that, and I feel as if we are kind of missing out on that in this show. Like we barely get a look at the Landsraad and that even ends in an execution of rebels that are attempting to kill the Emperor. I just wish that we had been able to get a little more of the type of political landscape we see at the time of this show to get an idea of what we are dealing with. If we get a second season, I hope they are able to balance it a bit more.
By the way, while I was working on this post, I learned that the series was renewed for a second season so every time I have brought up wanting a second season, ignore that because it is true. In conclusion, Dune: Prophecy is a solid look at the formation of the most influential group in all of Dune. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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