Crisis on Dune: After the success of the second film, the expansion of this science fiction universe is worrying fans – News Series – as seen on the Web

We review what’s happening with Dune: Prophecy, the prequel series to Denis Villeneuve’s films for the Max platform.

Officially announced five years ago and with the recent box office success Dune: Part Two, all eyes are on not only the continuation of the science fiction saga, but also its television spin-off for HBO streaming. However, the silence for months surrounding Dune: Prophecy is somewhat worrying.

And from the beginning we can consider that this prequel to Dune, which would (supposedly) tell the origins of the Bene Gesserit around ten thousand years before the events of the films, has been going through multiple changes in a hellish world. Lots of development that resulted in several key team members leaving.

A continuous back and forth earthquake

Originally, Denis Villeneuve himself would be in charge of the series… but he soon prioritized the cinematographic part of the franchise and along with him he also took screenwriter Jon Spaiths. But they certainly wouldn’t be the last creative changes. From the end of 2022, a year and a half odyssey of problems and changes began.

They began in November 2022, when we learned of series co-creator Diane Ademu-John’s departure, leaving Alison Schapker in charge (who was already replacing Scott Z. Burns). Months later, we learned that they also suffered the loss of their director, Johan Renck, and Shirley Henderson, who would co-star in the then-titled Dune: Sisterhood alongside Emily Watson.

A complete earthquake in the production of the series due to the profound changes that occurred when proposing the story it would tell. In fact, in recent statements in an interview with The Playlist, Johan Renck assures that it had transformed into something completely different from what was initially said.

There was a lot going on, but no one can be held responsible, or the showrunners were changed, and the original story idea completely changed direction as well because it used to be called Dune: Sisterhood, and then it changed names and became a completely different thing. Again, this is something that can happen in episodic TV, and it’s like, you’re either okay with being and functioning in this kind of environment, but it never was or will be something for me.

Furthermore, in the interview, the director – a self-confessed fan of David Lynch’s Dune – states that the producers assured him that the series did not need to “have anything to do with the films [de Villeneuve]; it’s its own animal.” Now we’ll have to see what exactly he means by that… especially since so far we haven’t seen a single image.

In fact, the debut and overwhelming success of Dune: Part Two could have been a perfect moment to remind fans of the saga (and, well, viewers in general) of the existence of Dune: Prophecy through a photo or teaser. Especially considering its debut scheduled for the last months of 2024.

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A thunderous silence for a powerful debut

The absence of the teaser was attributed, according to TVLine’s sources, to the fact that it was “too early” because, among other things, it is still in production. To serve as a reference for the marketing of yet another “high profile” series from the company: the first teaser for the 2nd season of House of the Dragon (which premieres in June) came out last December.

Fortunately, the project’s latest update is quite optimistic. In an interview with Collider, Dune: Prophecy’s director of photography, Pierre Gill, assured that the series finished filming last Christmas in 2023… but that there remains a long post-production of almost a year, so Final 2024 continues being a viable release date.

Of course, Gill guarantees that the silence will last a few more months… a period in which we will continue with uncertainty, because, as we have seen so many times lately, it wouldn’t be Max’s first time that a series was canceled as soon as it finished running. .

This prequel follows the story of Valya and Tula Harkonnen and their connections to a sect that will turn out to be that of the Bene Gesserit mystics. The cast includes Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Jodhi May, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune Franklin, Faoileann Cunningham, Aoife Hinds, Chloe Lea, Travis Fimmel, Mark Strong, Jade Anouka and Chris Mason.