‘Dune: Prophecy’ Will Explore “Boundaries of What It Means to Be Human”
The Dune: Prophecy cast and producers teased new series details and how the show is connected to Denis Villeneuve’s films while discussing the HBO and Max series during New York Comic Con on Thursday.
During the hourlong panel, new footage was teased along with appearances by showrunner Alison Schapker, executive producer Jordan Goldberg, along with castmembers Emily Watson (Valya Harkonnen), Olivia Williams (Tula Harkonnen), Travis Fimmel (Desmond Hart), Sarah-Sofie Boussnina (Princess Ynez), Josh Heuston (Constantine Corrino), Chloe Lea (Lila) and Jessica Barden (young Valya Harkonnen).
More from The Hollywood Reporter
The panel kicked off with a trailer foretelling troubles “greater than just Arrakis,” with challenges for the king hidden in plain sight and a mission to erase the sisters from existence. Schapker soon after teased where the series will begin, telling attendees “we are in the shadow of the wars” and in the aftermath of the fight against AI. “Computers, thinking machines, have been outlawed. Does that mean they’re not floating around the universe in various ways, who knows?” the showrunner said. “Humans have to strive to fill the voids of what used to be performed by technology. Now humans are coming to try and push the boundaries of what it means to be human.”
Later in the panel, Schapker added that the team has been “writing a show that’s concerned with power and truth and stories, and what does it mean to have charismatic leaders. Is that something to be followed; something to be suspicious of? Dune raises all kinds of questions about how power operates in the light, but also how it operates in the shadows.
“The sisterhood certainly has a prominent public place, and they have these jobs as truthsayers. They’re in the halls of power, they’re teaching girls, and insinuating themselves into noble families. But they’re also pulling strings behind the scenes. That certainly speaks to every time period and highlights some questions we all can be asking of power at any given moment, including today,” she continued. “In the films, they’re very much in their full power, and they’re making their moves, but they’re cloaked in a kind of mystique. One of the great things about this series is we certainly don’t want to take away their mystique, but we do go behind their closed doors and kind of see how they operate.”
She went on to tease that the series will show the Atreides, as well as the “beginning of the Harkonnen family at a time when they’re not quite the more monstrous version that you see 10,000 years later.” Instead, it’s the seeds of the Harkonnen family in an earlier time, when “you’re dealing with people who have tremendous force and willingness to go to great lengths to achieve their goals and a great big grudge.”
As for how the show will be connected to the recent films, Schapker offered great praise for Villeneuve’s films, telling fans they set a “high bar and really unlocked Dune for many people — just invigorated the incredible work that’s out there. We definitely felt like we wanted to just strive in every way to be worthy of holding down a different corner of the Dune universe.”
Later, while discussing the Dune Experience activation and the clothing, the cast and creative team also teased the production team’s work. “Crew from top to bottom just did such incredible work, and I do think that’s a testament to Dune, and the storytelling that people just reach so deep to realize it and and do it justice and make it with love,” the showrunner said. “There is no detail that we did not pore over and think about and carefully consider. It really shows.”
The prequel to director Villeneuve’s two-part film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed science fiction epic, this small-screen take on Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s prequel Sisterhood of Dune centers on two Harkonnen sisters combating the forces that threaten humankind’s future and in the process establish the Bene Gesserit sect.
The conversation, which served as the first public discussion of the film by members of the series’ creative team and cast, vastly expanded on the thematic and literal fight for power and control already previewed in two prior teasers of the series.
Dune: Prophecy will debut on HBO and Max this Nov. 17.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
