Frank Herbert didn’t necessarily intend to create a large, enduring legacy like Dune became. But once the novel finally arrived in the mid-1960s, it was immediately embraced and spawned several sequels until Herbert’s death. His son Brian, in concert with Kevin J. Anderson, has been keeping the flames burning bright with a series of prequels and sequels that further the ideas first presented sixty years ago.
Herbert thought on a grand scale, his history spanning tens of thousands of years, so HBO Max’s Dune: Prophecy is set 10,000 years before events found in Dune (and therefore, the first two Denis Villeneuve film adaptations). While drawing material from Herbert and Anderson’s Sisterhood of Dune, it charts its course, focusing on the evolution of the female-centric Bene Gesserit.
Legendary Entertainment is used to thinking in grandiose terms given their work with Godzilla and King Kong, and here, plans for the TV tie-in began in 2019, well before the first feature film was released. The six-episode first season aired last winter and is now available on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Home Entertainment.
There are timeframes running in parallel, tracing the relationship between two sisters: Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden) and Tula Harkonnen (Emma Canning) as they leave home for training in the mystic order. As adults, the two (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams respectively) contend with changes within the order, including a threat in the form of Desmond Hart (Travis Frimmel), who is the fly in the Sisterhood’s ointment, immune to Vialya’s Voice, a power that compels people to do her bidding. The emperor has no use for the Bene Gesserit and wants them eradicated.
As one would expect, the two timelines are populated with friends, kin, and enemies, sometimes making it hard to track who is who and who is out to get whom. Still, there are many familiar terms and images, notably the Sandworm of Arrakis. Despite the ten-thousand-year difference, it still looks and feels like Villeneuve’s Dune. There are enough intriguing details and character moments to make each episode interesting and keep you coming back.
In the hands of showrunner Alison Schapker, the stories have some pleasant, compelling moments and fun characters. The series boasts an attractive and talented cast, which connected with the audience, leading to a second season being commissioned before the first season was completed airing last December.
The series is available as either 4K or Blu-ray without a combo pack or digital code. The HVEC/H.265 encoded 2160p transfers in 2.00:1 is rich in visual detail, nicely capturing the color palette, and looks fabulous on a home screen. It pairs quite well with the immersive Dolby Atmos audio track.
Alas, being a repackaging of the series, the Special Features are drawn mainly from the Inside the Episode packages that accompany most Max productions. Disc One also offers up Entering the Dune Universe (2:58) and Houses Divided (2:47). Disc Two provides us with Truth or Lie (5:38) and Expanding the Universe (2:32) while Disc Three has Behind the Veil (34:45) and Building Worlds – Home Entertainment Exclusive (HD; 13:04) is another production design focused featurette. One wishes the features were as rich in detail as the episodes themselves.
Dune: Prophecy
English (US) · 