Emily Watson and Shirley Henderson to star in HBO Max’s Dune prequel series
Set 10,000 years before Dune, The Sisterhood is about the creation of the Bene Gesserit
Aux News Emily Watson
Since even before Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was swept into theaters and onto HBO Max like so much sand, a spin-off prequel series for the streaming service called Dune: The Sisterhood has been in the works. Now, despite the fact that everything at HBO Max seems shakier than House Atreides control over the planet Arrakis, Dune: The Sisterhood is still moving forward and now has Emily Watson and Shirley Henderson on board as its stars.
Set 10,000 years before the events of the Dune movie, the series is about the formation of the Bene Gesserit—the sect of spooky magic women who believe that Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides will grow up to be the Kwisatz Haderach, which is some kind of space-messiah. Watson will play Valya Harkonnen and Henderson will play Tula Harkonnen, and if you know your Dune family names (and may the sandworms bless you if you do), you’ll know that they’re ancestors of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from Dune. He’s the bad guy!
That makes it sound a bit like House Of The Dragon (House Of The Sandworm?), but surely HBO Max can carry two genre shows that are prequels to a big thing. Also, the Dune mythology is so bizarre and complicated that people might not even notice any similarities once the show is out. Aas soon as someone says “Kwisatz Haderach,” you’ll know that’s some bonkers Dune shit.
Anyway, Dune: The Sisterhood comes from showrunners Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker, with Ademu-John also serving as creator and writer. Watson was in Chernobyl a few years ago and Henderson is probably best known as Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies (plus Babu Frik in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, one of that movie’s lone bright spots). The Deadline story we got this from doesn’t mention a potential release window for Dune: The Sisterhood, but what are the odds it comes out before Dune 2?
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One bit from The Dune Encyclopedia that I thought was really fascinating is the entry on I.V. Holtzman, the Zefram Cochrane/Solomon Epstein of the Duniverse.
I’m ungreying this bc I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but I’m intrigued.
https://archive.org/details/dune-encyclopedia-the-complete-authorized-guide-and-companion-oef/The%20Dune%20Encyclopedia/page/n665/mode/2up
He’s the inventor of Holtzman engine that became the energy source of everything in Dune-verse (personal shield, space folding, etc)
Dune-ih-verse?
DCAU
I know Shirley Henderson as the weirdo from season 2 of Happy Valley.
Shai Hulud! They are making shows based on the Kevin Anderson/Brian Herbert books? That won’t go well.
Did they write one about the Bene Gesserit?Apparently they did, but seems like maybe a different plotline? Much more tied into their Butlerian Jihad storyline than it seems the show will be.
They were all pretty bad.
Yeah, I read a couple of them.I’m just saying it seems like the show isn’t based on whatever they did with the Bene Gesserit origin novel.
Both the book and the show art set long after the Butlerian Jihad but long before Paul’s Jihad. Much like Rings of Power, it’s set in the millennia between canonical events but not written by the original author.
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Is the Bene Gesserit really a can of worms worth opening? I mean, their long con was to trick a man in his late 20’s into impregnating his 12 year old sister. Do we REALLY need to see how they initially concocted this plan?
“Sister, come in here. We’ve decoded this ancient video I think you need to see. It’s called ‘House of the Dragon.’”
I’m guessing they found a Pornhub archive.
Shirley Henderson, I should maybe rewatch “Wonderland” with her and Gina McKee, Michael Winterbottom from that period is really underrated. The Claim is kind of a masterpiece. Too bad she is likely best known as Moaning Myrtle.Not the best pic of Emily Watson, what is this, the NYTimes?
Before a beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the time before the life of Muad’Dib, then, take care that you first place him in his time, and then look a few years before that time.
—from “Manual of the Manual of Muad’Dib”
by the Princess Irulan
HBO should really have made a show about the Honored Matres, descendants of the Bene Gesserit.the most effective method used by the Honored Matres to infiltrate and overwhelm other groups was a form of “sexual enslavement.” During their evolution in uncharted space, the Honored Matres perfected sexual intercourse into a narcotic process. https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Honored_MatresThe HBO CEO of Tits is not doing their job.
Am I the only one who can never remember which british actress is emily watson or emma watson or emma thompson or emily thompson or who’s playing Emma?