Dune: Prophecy – Season One
I have been a fan of the Dune books for a long time. I have really enjoyed the recent Dune movies by Denis Villeneuve. They are beautiful to watch and closer to the books than the previous movie.
The challenge with the Dune books is that there is so much story to tell. Frank Herbert created a world that has a history covering many thousands of years. And because of how things work in Dune, especially in the use of spice, what happened thousands of years previous can be directly relevant to the current state of the story.
One of the aspects of the Dune story is the competing between different groups vying for power. Prominent among these are the Bene Gesserit. Paul Atreides from the first Dune book is a son of a Bene Gesserit. The Dune movies only hint at their story.
Recently, there was a series put out called Dune: Prophecy, which delves much deeper into their background, as well as other aspects of the Dune mythos. This takes place in the early days of the Bene Gesserit, 10,000 years before the Dune movies.
This is an actual prequel to the Dune movies and is meant to be understood as part of the same shared universe as those movies.
As the title suggests, there is a prophecy about a threat, a reckoning that the Bene Gesserit have been anticipating. This seems to be related to the arrival of a soldier to the Emperor’s court, a soldier with strange powers.
Much of the story revolves around the Mother Superior and her sister and their rise to power. One of the aspects of this series is that there are no clear “good guys.” No individual or group is untainted by the quest for power that will destroy whoever is in the way.
This is consistent with the vision of Frank Herbert. Although we may cheer on Paul Atreides in Dune, Paul himself is aware that his rise will bring great suffering. It is a rather pessimistic view of humanity.
I enjoyed Dune: Prophecy. It does not match the quality of the Dune movies but it is good. Rather than relying on special effects, the focus is on developing characters and I think that was done well. No one is exactly as they seem and there is always a new side to be revealed.
If you are a fan of the Dune movies, I do recommend Prophecy. Diehard book fans (especially those who limit themselves to the original Frank Herbert books) may struggle some what. Those unfamiliare with anything Dune-related will probably find it all baffling.
This season of Dune: Prophecy left me hoping for more. There is always more story to tell.
