Dune: Prophecy

It seems that I'm not the only one who is really enjoying Dune: Prophecy.  The powers that be have renewed it for a second season, so we're in for more back stabbing, pseudo-religious, weirdly dark, sci-fi fun sometime in the future.  Given how long it takes to make a few episode long "season" these days, I'll avoid saying "next year" because it wouldn't surprise me if we don't see "season 2" until 2026.

 

I bet half the cast of this show will show up as professors at Hogwarts in the reboot.

Travis Fimmel always brings a psychotic weirdness to his roles (his Ragnar Lothbrook in Vikings is searingly terrifying at times) and he's perfect as the enigmatic, fanatic Bashar, Desmond Hart.  Mark Strong, who seemed a little lost as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin earlier this year is note perfect as the somewhat self-doubting Emperor of the Known Universe, Javicco Corrino.  Mark Addy as Evgeny Harkonnen is so much fun to watch and the pre-echo of Baron Harkonnen is note perfect.

There's a host of beautiful, super-fit British twenty somethings playing other roles too, but the standouts are the middle aged women playing the senior Sisters.  Emily Watson and Olivia Williams play the Harkonnen sisters, Valya and Tula and they're both entirely in charge of every scene they are in, without seeming to make any effort.

If you're a Dune fan, this show is gold, but seeing that it takes place 10,000 years before the events that played out in the Dune films, casual fans might find this show a little puzzling.  The choice to do a show about the Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit makes perfect sense if you've read the Frank Herbert books and the prequels by his son Brian with co-writer Kevin J. Anderson, but if you haven't got that background you might be left a bit confused by the whole thing.  The Sisterhood's multi-generational genetic manipulation plan doesn't really get much screen time or deep explanation in the films and what we do get of it is very abbreviated and terribly well laid out.  

Dune: Prophecy fills in a lot of blanks from the films, but I'm surprised that there is enough interest in the depth and breadth of the Herbert-verse for the show to be a hit.  Pleasantly surprised, to be sure.

Now that there's a second season, I'm sure we'll see the beginnings of the Missionaria Protectiva, the Litany Against Fear and the Bene Gesserit fighting techniques along with what we've seen of the Gom Jabbar, the Voice, Face Dancers and more.

I can't bloody wait!