Dune: Prophecy is finally slated to premiere later this month, bringing with it brand-new insights into the world of Arrakis and its politics. The upcoming HBO series is set 10,000 years before the events of Villeneuve's movies, largely focusing on the Harkonnen family and the origin of their feud with House Atreides. The show boasts an impressive cast, with stars like Chernobyl’s Emily Watson, The Crown’s Olivia Williams, The Witcher’s Jodhi May and Vikings’ Travis Fimmel.
Watson and Williams play Valya and Tula Harkonnen in Prophecy, siblings who are pivotal in the group’s rise to power that fans have seen in the films, and the formation of the Bene Gesserit. The series’ showrunner, Alison Schapker, has a storied history in the industry that began over two decades ago. She’s worked on shows like Alias, Lost, Fringe, Scandal, and Westworld, giving her a slew of experience with dramas ahead of her work on the new prequel.
Dune: Prophecy is coming to TV as a spinoff series from the popular movie franchise and here is everything you need to know about the new show.
ScreenRant interviewed Alison Schapker to discuss how her past work has helped influence Dune: Prophecy, crafting a meaningful feud, and plans for potential future seasons.
Schapker's Work On Westworld Was "Absolutely" An Inspiration For Dune: Prophecy
How The Showrunner's Previous Work Helped Her With This Show's Timeline
Screen Rant: How will the portrayal of the Corrinos in Dune: Prophecy differ from their depiction in the movies, and what seeds, if any, are planted for Shaddam's storyline in the future?
Alison Schapker: There are so many things in Dune that last 10,000 years. There is the creation of Paul Atreides, which takes many millennia and generations to bring about somebody who steps into that role. There's the feud between the Harkonnens and the Atreides; also 10,000 years. How did that start? And then, of course, there's the Corrinos, who hold the Golden Lion Throne for 10,000 years. It really is not a stretch to say we are looking at the origin points of what will eventually [be Dune].
You will see distant echoes, very distant, over great swaths of time playing out in the movies. But we are looking at a different moment, and the Corrinos are still a newish dynasty. We are a couple of leaders out from when the Corrinos took their name, after the Battle of Corrin and the thinking machines were defeated, and came to occupy the Golden Lion Throne on the Imperium.
And we're dealing with Javicco Corrino, who is an emperor that feels a tenuous relationship to his power and to his legacy. He feels somewhat less-than when he thinks about some of the men who came before him. And he's wondering, even now in this early time period, "Am I living up to the Corrino name?" and consciously wanting to elevate House Corrino and secure its lock on the throne. In some ways, you're really seeing another origin of another part of a Dune dynasty, that holds power for a very long time.
That's what I love about the show; we get to dive deep into some of these different houses. But I want to talk about timelines for a second because Dune has always approached time in such a fascinating way. Was your experience on Westworld an inspiration for how to manage the complexities of the Harkonnen sisters' timelines effectively?
Alison Schapker: Yeah, absolutely. I think every experience you have in storytelling affects you as a writer. Westworld was doing fascinating things with time, but even in its own way, so was a show like Fringe, which went between universes and then also past timelines.
I've always found that really interesting because I think we all carry around a bunch of time periods inside us as human beings. And it's funny, people have been asking me about Dune today, and I remember what it felt like to be a teenager reading that book in a way that was very visceral. You're like, "There's teenage me reading the Dune book, and here's adult me." To know a character and to observe a character at different time periods of their life is so interesting.
So, I would say absolutely, all the stories I've been involved in that have done that before showed me very much by experience what the benefits are and maybe some of the pitfalls. You try and navigate it so that people can really go on the ride and not be confused by it, but be emotionally invested. We hope we've been able to do that.
Schapker Has A Lot Of "Juicy" Plans For Future Dune: Prophecy Seasons
How The Showrunner Hopes To Keep Futhering The World's Lore Over Time
You absolutely have been able to do that. Can you expand on the narrative plans for future seasons? Do you anticipate using time jumps, and how might that influence the development of key characters like the Atreides and Harkonnens?
Alison Schapker: I think that a central question of the series, should people show up and we can earn ourselves more seasons, is very much, "What happened to this organization, the Sisterhood, that they basically went through a whole rebrand and became the Bene Gesserit?" How did you go from a prophecy that is the inciting incident of our show to setting in motion a prophecy that would only be realized for your own purposes and would eventually lead to Paul Atreides?
I think there's a whole bunch of story that impacts how that transition happens, and I'm hoping we can [show it]. That would be, in my perfect world, a sort of framework.
I am loving the feud playing out in front of my eyes. It's something that we know about in the films, but we get a deep understanding in this show about how it started and where it's going. Could you elaborate on how Dune: Prophecy will deepen the lore surrounding the Atreides and Harkonnens? What might surprise fans the most about these families?
Alison Schapker: That's such a good question. That's definitely one of the throughlines; where does the feud fit in? In season 1, we're going to talk about a moment. I think what's so interesting about a feud, let alone one that lasts that long, is that I don't think it's just a static thing. I think it's very much a wound that is getting reopened and healing over and being reopened. Was there ever a moment where it was going to simmer down? What ignites it, and then when does it take on its inevitability? When does it become so entrenched that its origin almost no longer matters?
I guess that ebb and flow was something I'm very interested in because we know it's going to drive story, but how did it, and were there ever moments where it could have gone another way? These are all things I think are juicy and interesting.
Episode 3 had my jaw on the floor, let me tell you. Now, what are the motivations behind Desmond Hart's desire to take down the sisterhood, and how does this conflict play out between him and Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen?
Alison Schapker: Well, Desmond's motivations are a real mystery of the show. Where did he come from, what is he truly motivated by, and why does he hate the Sisterhood? Which I don't think is a spoiler. And also, what's his story? Because he comes with such a powerful and compelling story; he's been gifted a great power by Shai'Hulud, an ancient God of Arrakis that's responsible for all of spice creation.
It almost makes him like a bit of - I don't want to say Messiah figure, but a bit of an outsized, charismatic Chosen One. I think Dune is absolutely concerned with those kinds of figures. This is an early, early iteration of somebody who's touching that, somebody with that kind of potential at some point. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say Valya [sees] he's got the potential to change worlds. What does that mean, who is he, and in which way is he really going to break? All these are things that the show will explore.
More About Dune: Prophecy Season 1
From the expansive universe of Dune, created by acclaimed author Frank Herbert, and 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, DUNE: PROPHECY follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit. DUNE: PROPHECY is inspired by the novel SISTERHOOD OF DUNE, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
Check back soon for our other Dune: Prophecy interviews here:
Emily Watson & Olivia Williams
Jodhi May & Mark Strong
Travis Fimmel & Jordan Goldberg
Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Josh Heuston, & Chris Mason
Dune: Prophecy
premieres November 17 at 9pm EST on HBO.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
Cast Emily Watson , Olivia Williams , Jodhi May , Travis Fimmel , Mark Strong , Jade Anouka , Chris Mason , Sarah-Sofie Boussnina , Shalom Brune-Franklin , Faoileann Cunningham , Aoife Hinds , Chloe Lea , Josh Heuston , Edward Davis , Tabu , Yerin Ha
English (US) ·