emily watson in dune prophecy wearing the bene gesserit clothes
(HBO)

Here’s Everything We Know About HBO’s Prequel Series ‘Dune: Prophecy’

Following the colossal success of Dune 2, fans of the sci-fi franchise are now eagerly awaiting the release of Dune: Prophecy, the HBO prequel series that will cover the origins of Bene Gesserit.

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Scheduled to release in November 2024 on HBO’s streaming service Max, the series has a star-studded cast that can rival the film series’ ensemble. Here’s the complete cast and character list for Dune: Prophecy:

  • Emily Watson as Valya Harkonnen
  • Olivia Williams as Tula Harkonnen
  • Jodhi May as Empress Natalya
  • Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Princess Ynez
  • Shalom Brune-Franklin as Mikaela
  • Faoileann Cunningham as Sister Jen
  • Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco Corrino
  • Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart
  • Jade Anouka as Sister Theodosia
  • Chris Mason as Kieran Atreides
  • Aoife Hinds as Sister Emeline
  • Chloe Lea as Lila

You can check out the latest trailer for the show here:

The cast is led by Academy Award nominee Emily Watson, who plays Valya Harkonnen, the leader of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. Olivia Williams plays her sister Tula, while Mark Strong will be seen in the role of Javicco Corrino, the ruling emperor in the show’s timeline. Josh Heuston, Edward Davis, Jihae, and Tabu feature in supporting roles.

In the original cast announcement, Shirley Henderson and Indira Verma were roped in to play the roles of Tula Harkonnen and Empress Natalya and were eventually replaced by Williams and May after they dropped out. Dune: Prophecy was initially commissioned as Dune: The Sisterhood in June 2019 by Legendary Television, with the creative duo of film series Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve attached as showrunner and director, respectively.

However, they had to step aside due to their commitment to Dune: Part Two, with the studio choosing to replace Spaihts with Alison Schapker and Villenueve with Anna Foerster after his first-choice substitute Johan Renck backed out of the project.


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Evan Tiwari
Evan is a staff writer at The Mary Sue, contributing to multiple sections, including but not limited to movies, TV shows, gaming, and music. He brings in more than five years of experience in the content and media industry, both as a manager and a writer. Outside his working hours, you can either catch him at a soccer game or dish out hot takes on his Twitter account.