******SANDWORM-SIZED SPOILERS!******

I’m a modest fan of the “Dune” franchise. I read Frank Herbert’s first book ages ago, and I have some knowledge of its many sequels and prequels. I’ve seen all the live-action incarnations of “Dune,” including 1984’s “Dune,” 2000’s SyFy “Dune” miniseries, its 2003 sequel “Children of Dune” (a miniseries that combined the titular book with “Dune: Messiah”), and of course, Denis Villeneuve’s arguably definitive 2021/2024 cinematic adaptations of the first book.  

So despite some mixed early buzz, my wife and I were certainly looking forward to the new HBO series “Dune: Prophecy,” a prequel based loosely on “Great Schools of Dune” by Brian Herbert (son of the late “Dune” creator Frank Herbert) and Kevin J. Anderson, which is set some 10,084 years before the birth of “Dune” protagonist Paul Atreides.

The first episode of “Prophecy” streamed on Max this week, and well…let’s just say it wasn’t my first or greatest disappointment this month, but it wasn’t exactly the series I’d hoped for, either. Once again reinforcing this month’s punishing lesson that hopes and expectations can be dangerous things. 

Episode 1: “The Hidden Hand”

Opening on the Bene Gesserit home world of Wallach IX, decades after the Butlerian Jihad, we see young Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden) who is called by the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Raquella (Cathy Tyson) on her deathbed; Raquella wants ambitious Valya to succeed her, but the Reverend Mother Dorotea (Camilla Beeput) is afraid of the young woman’s power.  

After Raquella dies, Valya uses “the Voice” for the first time and forces Dorotea to slip a blade into her neck in an attempt to thwart the Sisterhood’s carefully planned breeding program for ascension into power.

Note: Odd that this first alleged use of “the Voice” happens with little to none of the wow factor one might expect such a moment should have in this series. Kind of like Luke using the Force for the first time. For us nerds, it is a big deal.

Thirty years on, the now middle-aged Valya (Emma Watson) is this close to placing her own candidate on the throne with the ascension of Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina); who is left to study with the Sisterhood by her feckless half-brother, Prince Constantine (Josh Heuston).

Ynez’s ascension to power will follow a perfunctory marriage to a nine-year old prince Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) in a wildly perverse marriage ceremony. The marriage is expected to stabilize the Imperial bloodline, and give the Sisterhood the metaphorical keys to the palace with one of their own on the inside…

Note: The wedding ceremony is somewhere between laughable and grotesque, as little Pruwet literally has to stand on a booster to perform the weird little food-sharing moment of the wedding (no nuptial kisses between the two, thank Shai’Hulud….).

Princess Ynez is, of course, the daughter of Galactic Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong) and his wife, the Empress Natalya (Jodhi May); whose palace is located on the planet Salusa Secundus. As we see in the saga’s later chronology, controlling the spice exports from Arrakis is of paramount importance to the Royals, as it makes vast interstellar navigation without computers possible. Spice opens the galaxy, much like polluting-petroleum does in our own time (one of its many metaphors, along with western imperialism).

Note: Longtime character actor Mark Strong, who’s made a career out of playing heavies, also had roles in 2019’s “Shazam!” and a personal favorite of mine; 2012’s unfairly maligned “John Carter.”

The Empress Natalya, however, opposes the marriage and sees through Valya’s ambitions, but her husband needs the fleet of spaceships under Richese’s control, since “the spice must flow.”  Valya, obsessed with making the match happen, dismisses warnings from Imperial Truthsayer Kasha Jinjo (Jihae), who has disturbing visions about the the Princess’s future. 

Meanwhile, Emperor Corrino is visited by one of his soldiers from Arrakis named Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel); a rugged yet unsettling man, who has disturbing psionic powers he keeps to himself.  The Emperor confides in Desmond that he’s not too keen on the match between his daughter and her literal boy toy.  Arrakis combat veteran Desmond suggests he can deal with this situation, while also warning the Emperor of the great power held over his court by the Sisterhood.

Note: Desmond Hart, as played by Travis Fimmel, has a superficial look that is similar to the more sympathetic Arrakis desert warrior Duncan Idaho, as played by the charming Jason Mamoa. However Hart, as played by Fimmel, is much colder and more sinister; which was one of the few elements of this otherwise predictable first episode that almost defied my expectations.

Meanwhile, the newly-married Ynez is off to get hammered on her loveless wedding night, where she hooks up in a EDM club/bar where she sees her dashing swordsman trainer, Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason), in a scene that feels more like something out of HBO’s “Euphoria” than “Game of Thrones.” The Atreides bloodline is, of course, the noble bloodline that eventually leads to Duke Leito Atreides and his son, Paul—the future “Dune Messiah” of Arrakis.

Note: The EDM music, as well as Ynez referring to her child groom as a “little shit” felt too contemporary here, even 10,000 years before the first book. There’s a certain formal syntax in speech with some sci-fi franchises; as seen in Star Wars and older incarnations of Star Trek, and particularly in Dune. The phrase “little shit” felt a bit out of place in the more staid, formal and buttoned-up Dune-iverse.

Back at the palace, Desmond befriends the young Prince Pruwet Richese, who can’t sleep and is caught playing with his banned cybernetic lizard toy. The two talk, and Desmond begins concentrating on the boy…causing him to self-immolate from the inside out.  Desmond then does the same to Truthsayer Kasha as well…

Note: Okay, the kid burning up was really nasty. Not exactly a surprise, but suitably HBO-graphic.

The End.

Summing It Up

Under showrunner and co-developer Alison Schapker, “Dune: Prophecy” also takes place only decades after the great “Butlerian Jihad”; a devastating cybernetic revolt that led to a galaxy-wide ban on “thinking machines” (hence, the lack of computers, robots or AI in the Dune-iverse). Why they didn’t choose to adapt Herbert and Anderson’s “The Butlerian Jihad” instead I’ll never know.  It certainly would’ve been a lot more exciting, at any rate.

Instead we get, at least in the first episode, a somewhat plodding, convoluted story of palace intrigue, powerful sorceresses vying for power, and other shadowy, half-whispered hugger-mugger that aspires to be another “Game of Thrones,” but lands somewhere closer to Disney’s ill-conceived and sloppily-written Star Wars prequel series, “The Acolyte” (a series I have zero desire to ever watch again). What showrunner Schapker needs to bear in mind is that the original “Dune” is also a sprawling, epic saga; a sheltered rich boy goes native on a hostile planet. It’s “Lawrence of Arabia” in space. The palace intrigue/power ploys are critical elements, yes, but they make for a less-than-satisfying central story.

The actors give it their all, even if the über-talented Emma Watson feels a little bit wasted in the drably sinister role of Valya Harkonnen. In this uniformly solid cast, it feels as if Sister Theodora, as played by actress Jade Anouka, is the one being groomed as a breakout character of the show, with her guarded, dark past. To be honest, the cast is a bit too crowded at this stage, though I assume this six episode series will effectively thin the herd in future installments.

Despite my enjoyment of the “Dune” franchise, “Dune: Prophecy” was not immediately habit-forming for me, nor for my “Dune”-fan wife (who’s read quite a few of the books, and sometimes acts as my “Dune”-terpreter). Maybe when the six episode arc is done, I might go back and revisit the series to see how it fits into the main saga, but at this point? I prefer to sate any “Dune” cravings by rewatching the movies or diving into the books, which have the adventure element this one is sorely lacking at this point.

Where to Watch

“Dune: Prophecy” is currently streaming exclusively on HBO/Max.