TL;DR – A fascinating look into the Dune world when it was just starting, but it felt more like half a season than a full one.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Bing service that viewed this series.

Dune Prophecy Review –

Before we dive into our best of 2024, there is one final review we have to finish, and that is for a TV version of one of my favourite novels and movie series: Dune. I have always loved diving into this world, even if I would never want to live there. Today, we have had the chance to catch up with the entire first season of Dune Prophecy, so it is time to see if it all worked.

So, to set the scene, in the years after the Butlerian Jihad against the Thinking Machines, humanity had to find a new way forward. There were many competing forces during that time, one of which was the witches of the Bene Gesserit. On Wallach IX, those same sisters are grieving the death of their first Reverend Mother. The sisterhood is at a future point. Which way forward would they proceed? Shall they point people in the right direction, or should they be the ones controlling things from the shadows? Thirty years after, blood was shed in the Bene Gesserit cloister, 116 years after the end of the Great Machine Wars, and 10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. It will be time to see which direction the sisterhood takes. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

What I liked about this series is that it very much captures that feel of a new order coalescing into being. We get hints of all those structures that have existed for tens of thousands of years by the times of the movies, but here they are new, and their success feels not guaranteed. We get hints of The Sardaukar, Tleilaxu Face Dancers (which will be very important for the films), The Landsraad, and even the drive behind the Bene Gesserit. All of these organs of power get shaped in this series in a way the films didn’t have time for, understandably.

I also liked that this was very much just a revenge work that shifted on its head. We get to learn a lot about our two Harkonnen sister leads, Valya (Emily Watson/ Jessica Barden) and Tula (Olivia Williams/ Emma Canning), over these first six episodes. Whose drive led them to the power they now find themselves in, but also is probably directly related to the potential destruction of the Bene Gesserit when their crimes start becoming evident. The first sisters to develop The Voice did a lot of damage in that process.

It is also a genially compelling palace intrigue series. I have heard it described as Game of Thrones in space, and that is not an entirely unfair comparison. But it has all of those elements that you would want in a show like this. Enigmatic religious figures might not be what they say they are. A spurned wife and the mistress that gets flaunted around. Two houses with a generations-long blood feud. All with increasing pressures on a ruler who probably could not care for them all. This creates a fertile ground for betrayals, counter-betrayals, coups, sifting influence, and unseen forces able to move in the shadows.

While I liked the first season and where it ended up, it did feel like there were some missed opportunities. To begin with, it is noticeably clear that Season One feels more like the first half of a season than an entire season in its own right, with the season finale, The High-Handed Enemy, working better as a mid-season swerve. This also means that the primary setting of the show at the Wallach IX school always feels a little forced as the season goes on. The only central question answered this season is Desmond Hart’s (Travis Fimmel) parentage and what controls him.     

In the end, do we recommend Dune Prophecy: Season One? Well, why not everything landed, it was a good dip into this Dune world through a different lens. The cast was solid, and while it is only the first half of a season, at least we will be able to see the second half soon.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Dune Prophecy yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Dune Prophecy
Directed by – Anna Foerster, John Cameron & Richard J. Lewis
Written by – Diane Ademu-John, Elizabeth Padden, Kor Adana, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jordan Goldberg, Kevin Lau, Suzanne Wrubel, Carlito Rodriguez, Leah Benavides Rodriguez & Elizabeth Padden  
Created by – Diane Ademu-John & Alison Schapker
Based On – Great Schools of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson & Dune by Frank Herbert
Production/Distribution Companies – Wandering Jew Productions, Herbert Propties, Inc., Flying Life, Legendary Television, HBO & Binge
Starring – Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Chloe Lea, Chris Mason, Shalom Brune-Franklin & Mark Strong with Jihae, Tabu, Jade Anouka, Edward Davis, Faoileann Cunningham, Aoife Hinds, Josh Heuston, Mark Addy, Polly Walker, Jessica Barden, Emma Canning, Cathy Tyson, Camilla Beeput, Barbara Marten, Yerin Ha, Charithra Chandran, Earl Cave, Milo Callaghan, Hannah Khalique-Brown, Charlie Hodson-Prior, Sarah Oliver-Watts, Callum Coates, Eva Alpysbay & Parker Sawyers and Brendan Cowell, Sam Spruell, Karima McAdams, Tessa Bonham Jones, Flora Montgomery, Laura Howard, David Bark-Jones, Archie Barnes, Benedick Blythe, Ludovic Hughes, Tanya Moodie, Attila Árpa, John Nolan & Steve Oram
Episodes Covered – The Hidden Hand, Two Wolves, Sisterhood Above All, Twice Born, Blood, Truth & The High-Handed Enemy.