Dune: Prophecy
The Complete First Season review by Bobby Blakey
In 1984 David Lynch brought Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel to life with Dune. The film failed to succeed at the box office, but over time it has found its fans. There had been talks of a new film outside of the 2000 SyFy Channel mini-series made for years, but looked like it might never happen. That is until the visionary director of Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 Dennis Villeneuve stepped in and created the two-part epic feature films that hit the big screen in 2021 and 2024. Now the world has expanded with the prequel series Dune: Prophecy taking audiences into the past of this universe based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune.
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Dune: Prophecy follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides. The series stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May, Mark Strong, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Josh Heuston, Chloe Lea, Jade Anouka, Faoileann Cunningham, Edward Davis, Aoife Hinds, Chris Mason, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Camilla Beeput, Jihae, Tabu, Charithra Chandran, Jessica Barden, Emma Canning, Yerin Ha, and Barbara Marten.
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I must admit that as much as I have wanted to be I just struggle to get into anything Dune and have never read any of the books. Never could get through the original film and while I did enjoy Villeneuve’s films, I initially was bored silly with the first part only making it better with the second entry to continue it. This led me to be concerned about whether I would have the same issue with this series despite it being set so far in the past. Thankfully the complexity of the series and fresh new direction allowed me to get invested a little more, but that doesn’t make it without its issues.
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When I initially started the show, I found myself in the same situation of trying to get into it with it going to the route of shows like Game of Thrones in tone. It has so many characters and pieces in play that you must invest and pay attention to keep up with it all. With the grey tones and drab looks it all looks the same most of the time with the infusion of the browns of the desert from time to time. This isn’t an issue and feeds into the tone of it all but makes the whole thing kind of a downer by design.
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As the show moves forward it finds its footing to pull you in as the pieces start to come together and the narrative gets more engaging. As expected, people start betraying each other, alliances are formed, and secrets are revealed. By the end it was a good show that not only does the world of Dune justice as it carves out its own place in the shared universe. The end serves as a satisfying end to the 6-episode season but leaves plenty of questions and directions for the next season to go. It still didn’t fully pull me into saying I am a Dune fan but works well enough to entertain and want to see where its heading.
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In addition to all six episodes of the series this release offers bonus content including 5 extended featurettes and an all-new, never-before-seen featurette. Step into the world of Dune once again when Dune: Prophecy comes to 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on May 13th from HBO, Legendary and Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment.