Emily Watson and Olivia Williams star as mystical sisters in this anticipated Dune prequel
Dune author Frank Herbert’s son, Brian, wrote a prequel to his father’s science fiction epic. Sisterhood of Dune, cowritten by Kevin J. Anderson, focuses on the establishment and rise of the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit, the powerful social, religious and political force who have trained their minds to achieve superhuman powers. The prequel is also the origin story of the leader of the sisterhood, Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) and her sister, Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams).
Set 10,000 years before Paul Atreides’ rise to power on Arrakis, Dune: Prophecy actually takes place 30 years after the book, allowing showrunner Alison Schapker to lean into the source material while also exploring brand new territory. “We’re interested in Valya Harkonnen’s whole lifetime,” Schapker says. “We’re looking at her upbringing and how she came to the sisterhood. But in the other time period of our series, we’re seeing Valya as a person who has grown the power of the sisterhood and is then faced with a crisis. So, we’re really toggling between two time periods; one that tethers us to the books and one that allows us to create.”
In her role as Second Mother Superior, Watson drew much of her inspiration from the earlier timeline and actress Jessica Barden, who plays the younger Valya. “It was the most wonderful gift as an actress to have somebody play your younger self,” she says. “There is a moment, further down the line in this [series], when Valya’s heart just froze, and everything she does is fueled by rage and a sense of vengeance. Then, she was spotted by a charismatic cult leader, who said, ‘I see you. You’re very powerful. You’re very special. Very talented. Come and help me shape the future of mankind.’ And that’s an incredibly dangerous thing to do.”
Her sister Tula may initially come across as a younger sibling eager to facilitate her sister’s mission, but Williams hints that her character’s complicity comes at a cost. “I think the secret to playing a younger sister is that you internalize and keep your rage inside and keep it quiet,” says Williams. “But watch out for the quiet ones. And the other thing is, she’s a science nerd, so the way she finds of eliminating her enemies is extremely efficient and quiet.”
While Watson and Williams have known each other since the last century, the two have never shared the screen prior to this project. “Find me a script where there’s a part for two 50-year-old women with equal status in the same story, you know?” says Watson. Even in their younger days, when the two were part of the Royal Shakespeare Company, there was little opportunity for collaboration. “There’s only ever room for one or two women at a time in those stories,” Williams points out.
With our universe finally bringing the two actors together professionally, having these women portray anti-heroes in the Dune universe is a special treat for executive producer Jordan Goldberg. “This is a show about the Sisterhood, but the person who’s in charge of the Sisterhood is a Harkonnen. From our knowledge of the movies and the books, we all think that they are vile and evil,” he says. “But we get to go into that story a little more and see that it’s not what you thought it was. Maybe tragedy caused these misconceptions about who they are. But still, it’s a Harkonnen. We’ve seen male Harkonnens do things very ruthlessly, and now we’re going to see our female Harkonnens and they’re just as bad-ass.”
Never knowing who to root for is one of Frank Herbert’s specialties in creating the Dune universe. Dune: Prophecy, says Goldberg, follows those same traditions on an equally grand chessboard. “The beautiful thing about Frank Herbert’s Dune, is the moral ambiguity of all the characters. At some point you’re dealing with a hero and pretty soon they become the villain and vice versa,” he explains. “In our story, they are 100 years removed from the great machine wars. Humans are now controlling their own destinies. But as Frank Herbert used to say, there’s always an uncertainty out there that you can’t account for. There’s an emotional reason to control everything, to control the future. And that really causes conflict between all these people who have different schemes at play.”
From a creative standpoint, the challenge has been balancing the enormous scope with the dramatic storylines. “The Dune universe is so visceral, specific, deep and provocative. We’re imagining a future where technology that we’re familiar with today has been banned and people are rebuilding humanity, asking themselves, ‘What does it mean to be human?’” says Schapker. “But you can do all the worldbuilding you want, and if you don’t have your characters taking you through the story, it won’t come together. Dune needs to be epic but intimate, so part of our job was to create a spectacle that was immersive, that would make you feel like you were transported somewhere, and really being attentive to our characters and understanding that their relationship to one another, onscreen, is ultimately what is going to carry us through.”
Dune: Prophecy, airing Sunday, December 1 on HBO Canada