A HANDY EXPLAINER FOR DUNE: PROPHECY, THE TV SPIN-OFF THAT WILL DELVE INTO A SHADOWY ORDER
ASK DENIS VILLENEUVE what aspect of Dune most captivated him when he read it as a teenager, and he’ll recite his answer without hesitation, as if commanded by the Reverend Mother herself: the Bene Gesserit. So entranced was he by the scheming sisterhood whose arch manipulations underpin the book’s entire plot, that he deliberately dialled up their presence in the second part of his epic adaptation.
But if even that wasn’t enough to properly scratch your Bene Gesser-itch, upcoming prequel show Dune: Prophecy surely will. Originally going by more on-the-nose title ‘Dune: The Sisterhood’, Prophecy takes place a full 10,000 years before Timothée Chalamet ever set foot on Arrakis’ scalding sands. Based loosely on the 2012 novel Sisterhood Of Dune by Brian (son of Frank) Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the show will take viewers all the way back to the founding of the Bene Gesserit order, with gom jabbers a-go-go and all the plotting, manipulation and iffy eugenics we’ve come to expect.
Emily Watson and Olivia Williams star as Valya and Tula, a pair of Harkonnens (before that house developed a mortal fear of hair) who establish the order, placing their cloister of cryptic space-nuns among the great houses as advisors and subtle influencers. While they weren’t known as the Bene Gesserit back then, they’d already adopted the familiar Scottish Widows aesthetic they’ll become known for, and already harbour ambitions to place one of their
