Franchise Roots Explored Ahead of Season 2
[This story contains major spoilers from the Dune: Prophecy season finale.]
The hierarchy of the Dune universe just changed.
No, the Rock was nowhere to be found on the season finale of HBO’s Dune: Prophecy. Instead, it’s a different rock taking center stage: Arrakis, the desert planet at the heart of Frank Herbert’s novels on which the show is based.
While referenced throughout its first six-episode season, Dune: Prophecy avoided actually bringing Arrakis to life onscreen, save for some brief (but important) holographic flashes. Now, the full thing is well and fully on display, thanks to the final scene of the finale. The spicy world of Arraks is officially on the map, and stands ready for exploration in the recently announced season two.
In a press conference last week, Dune: Prophecy showrunner Alison Schapker said the change in scenery was decided on after “a season of Arrakis kind of exerting its pull from afar, and whether that’s in the economics of spice, trade or the psychological aspects of these visions and nightmares that are sort of imagery of Arrakis and Desmond’s past seeping into everyone’s consciousness.
“[We’ll actually go] and put boots on the ground at this incredibly overdetermined and sort of almost mythic Dune space that we know very well, but we sort of kept it at distance the whole season,” Schapker added about the choice.
Schapker references Desmond Hart, Travis Fimmel’s intense imperial loyalist, and a sworn enemy of the developing Bene Gesserit, who exhibits a literal and figurative fiery power throughout season one. Hart’s powers come at least in part due to his time spent on Arrakis, where he was swallowed whole by a sand worm, only to emerge with new abilities. Now, Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) has touched down on Arrakis to learn more about Hart’s roots.
“I think it’s very significant that Valya’s back there,” Schapker said. “She’s back kind of at the origin point of Desmond, where he emerged with a story and a myth: ‘I’m from Arrakis, and I was swallowed by a worm and I survived after my whole regiment was killed.’ All I would say is, I think Valya is there … to find out a lot more, given that she is back where Desmond sort of emerged as an adversary. And [it will] be interesting to see what she finds out there.”
Emily Watson and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina in the Dune: Prophecy finale.
HBO
But Desmond’s not just Valya’s adversary; he’s also her nephew. In the penultimate episode, Dune: Prophecy revealed Desmond is the product of a love affair between an Atreides and Valya’s Harkonnen sister Tula, played by Olivia Williams. Houses Atreides and Harkonnen are sworn enemies by the time Denis Villenueve’s films explore the story of Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides — who, spoiler alert, is also half-Harkonnen.
Does that mean Desmond’s a chosen one 10,000 years ahead of Paul’s time? That’s a question Valya hopes to answer, with some familiar faces in tow: Keiran Atreides and Princess Ynez, played by Chris Mason and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, respectively.
“The Atreides have been there, but he’s maybe been here once before, back when he was training or something,” Mason told The Hollywood Reporter about what he hopes for from Keiran’s story in season two. “It’s really exciting to see where that goes now.”
Among the possible directions a second season might take is not only getting into the lore of Arrakis, but also tackling a burgeoning civil war within Valya’s sisterhood, as well as fallout from the assassination of the emperor (played by Mark Strong).
How will Valya, Keiran and Ynez deal with all of those deadly developments? We’ll have to wait a while yet for the answers. But at the very least, we know the answers are coming in season two.
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Dune: Prophecy is now streaming on Max.
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