Dune: Prophecy showrunner analyzes first season of the HBO series

Dune: Prophecy, the prequel HBO series to Denis Villeneuve's Dune movies is based on the Great Schools of Dune trilogy published in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The first season of Prophecy aired between November 17, 2024 to December 22, 2024. The series follows Emily Watson's Valya Harkonnen and her sisterhood trying to gain power by placing one of their own on the seat of power through marriage.

The science fiction drama show tracks the origins of the Bene Gesserit, a group we have seen in the first Dune movie. In December 2024, the show was renewed for Season 2, which means we will get to see how the sisterhood was formed in the future episodes.

---

What happens in the Dune: Prophecy finale?

The memorable finale of Dune: Prophecy, aired on December 22, 2024, shows Valya and Tula face Desmond Hart. Tula, we have learnt, is Desmond's mother. Emperor Javicco Corrino takes his own life after learning that the sisterhood controlled his whole life. The episode concludes with Keiran Atreides, Princess Ynez, and Valya Harkonnen fleeing to Arrakis.

As the episode concludes, the future of the Imperium in Dune: Prophecy remains uncertain after the emperor's death. Ynez, Corrino's heir has abdicated, leaving only two potential candidates for the throne. The first is Constantine Corrino, who is the emperor's illegitimate son with Sister Francesca. The other candidate for the throne might be Javicco Corrino's wife, Empress Natalya.

Natalya may claim the throne and declare herself as the Queen, much like Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones Season 6.

A few days before the finale of Dune: Prophecy, showrunner Alison Schapker along with actors Emily Watson (Valya) and Olivia Williams (Tula) interacted with the media at a press conference.

---

What did the Dune: Prophecy showrunner say?

At the press conferenece around the time the Dune: Prophecy finale, titled The High-Handed Enemy, streamed on December 22, 2024, several questions were asked to the cast members and the showrunner, notable about the role of classic horror tropes in the series. Showrunner Schapker explained:

"Oh, yeah. Well, I think "Dune" is a very psychological property. And I think horror lends itself to kind of that idea of we're plumbing kind of the darkness of our own minds or the corruption of people, the sort of power in the shadows, all that stuff. I think horror is a wonderful genre to kind of weave through. And we specifically look to horror for things like Lila's agony and what it would mean to have all the ancestors awaken in you and the sort of nightmare story that comes and becomes a possession story, and things that are nightmare tropes. But what I also love about "Dune" is that some of the horror is not supernatural but is actually rooted in a kind of science. And I think that's very interesting. I think it kind of has its own spin on what it's doing because it's always trying to ground itself, I think scientifically, so. But I think the idea that we would feel fear or that we would want to speak to that kind of anxiety that's happening, and like Olivia said, it's happening at the school, it's sort of ratcheting up over the season and horror's incredibly useful to have in your toolbox."

The moderator also asked the showrunner about Valya defeating the thinking machine's virus. Schapker replied:

"Well, I think we've seen kind of this idea that this machine virus is operating in a certain part of the brain that is triggering people's fears to kind of manifest, and there's sort of layers to it. And I think you saw a little bit in episode four when the acolytes were, when Tula guides them on their experiment to uncover the meaning of their dreams. Like, they start out and they're all drawing different things, and then they all begin drawing in unison. And then it's as if Desmond's fears become so present that that’s what's overpowering everybody, and nobody can get past these two blue eyes. [It] sort of awakens them because the terror is so great. And I think Valya, when she goes to transmute this machine virus -- Tula, thank God, is there to tell her that the key is actually to let go. And that actually the work that Valya has to do on a cellular level is to let go of fear, to kind of transmute the fear as opposed to the virus and to let it go. And Emily, I know we talked about this, but this idea that Valya has held on for her whole life to fears. Fears that she caused her own brother’s undoing. Fears that she would amount to nothing. Fears that the family would be forever denied or that the loss would be interminable."

On Valya's decision to flee to Arrakis, showrunner Schapker said:

"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. To 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. So, I think it's very significant that Valya's back there, and I also think she's back kind of at the origin point of Desmond, where he emerged from. Like, he emerged with a story and a myth, and it was I'm from Arrakis, and I was swallowed by a worm and I survived after my whole regiment was killed. I think Valya is going to find out a lot more, given that she is sort of back where Desmond sort of emerged as an adversary. And [it will] be interesting to see what she finds out there."

---

All six episodes of Dune: Prophecy Season 1 are available to stream on Max. Catch them before the second season releases.