Thanks to Denis Villeneuve’s highly marketable Dune franchise, the spice to Frank Herbert’s ambitious world is flowing. There have been many attempts to peddle the sci-fi series to the masses, and it looks like this one is sticking.
As fans wait in anticipation for the imminent Dune sequel modeled after Dune Messiah, there is some new content to look forward to. Dune: Prophecy is the newest content set in the world of the Imperium, scheduled to debut in November. The series focuses on the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the cabal of female magic users who intend to guide the politics of the universe.
The trailer follows two Harkonnen sisters, Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams). They don’t sport the sparse hair that is common on Geidi Prime in the current films, but they are interested in maintaining control. This desire to be at the seat of power never leaves the Harkonnen family. 10,000 years later, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) plots to control Arrakis and its spice mines. As the saying goes, whoever controls spice, controls the universe.
The trailer implies that these controlling desires stretch back thousands of years. But Valya and her Sisterhood have more to worry about than controlling the Emperor (Mark Strong). A new player comes onto the scene who vows to destroy their plans. Valya finds the main opposition to her work is Desmond Hart (Travis Flammel). He promises to wipe out the Bene Gesserit and their plans to influence everything in the universe.
“I see the corruption in your heart. The same way I see the blood trailing your every step,” he says ominously in the trailer. He insinuates to the Emperor that he has some mystical power that allows him to confront the Sisters. But he will meet one tough customer in Valya. Watson told Deadline that her character has a complex backstory that informs her character.
“What was really delicious to me as an actor about coming into this world was that these women are from a truly, truly, recognizably messed-up family. They’ve had an awful childhood and it’s sort of propelled them away. And nothing, nothing in this world is good and bad; everything is compromised and strange, and yet what Valya Harkonnen sets her sights on is really determining the right path for humankind. That’s her ambition.”
She also knows enough to keep her true intentions close to the vest.
“I run a school for young women. We’re not a threat to anyone,” she proclaims to him innocently. In contradictory scenes in the trailer, she uses the Voice to control those around her while using a blade for bloody satisfaction. Harkonnens are one of the biggest threats in Dune and Dune: Prophecy is just the beginning.
Harkonnens are major players in Dune
In the current timeline of the series, the Baron may be dead, but his genetics live on. Rebecca Ferguson’s Jessica is part of this order and the secret child of Baron Harkonnen. Somehow, she is even more ambitious than her father, pushing her son, Paul (Timotheé Chalamet) to accept his fate as the Kwisatz Haderach. Her tenacity practically stretches back in time to her foremothers and their intentions for the Bene Gesserit.
Like Jessica, the women in the upcoming series know how to plan several moves in advance. They keep their aspirations a secret but are undoubtedly just the first dominos to fall in Paul’s conception. Though Mother Superior (Charlotte Rampling) urges Jessica to only give birth to girls, she gives Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) a son, which in turn makes the Lisan al Gaib come a generation too soon. The Imperium waits for bated breath to see how Paul will lead them down down Golden Path. But until then, viewers can watch how it all started when Dune: Prophecy airs on November 17 on Max.