The saga of Dune continues. With this year’s masterpiece Dune: Part Two bringing life back to the box office earlier this year, we will now be getting more from Frank Herbert’s universe, with Dune: Prophecy, debuting on HBO and Max!
In honor of the series premiere tonight, we were beyond delighted to sit with the cast of the highly anticipated new series to discuss their characters and this brand new story chronicling the history of the Bene Gesserit.
Dune: Prophecy actually takes place more than 10,000 years before the story of Paul Atreides. As such, inspired by Brian Herbert’s “Sisterhood of Dune” books, the series explores much more of the history of the great houses, as well as how the Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserits came into power. Consequently, we see the rise of their influence on the royal families, as they scheme and plot to retain their power over the dominion of humanity.
However, much like the films, putting an epic story like this together requires the right storytellers to bring it to life. Not only is Dune: Prophecy blessed with an amazing cast, but also incredibly strong showrunners. Luckily, were so fortunate to speak with several of them at an amazing roundtable opportunity, including Jodhi May (Empress Natalya Corrino), Sarah-Sofie Boussnina (Princess Ynez Corrino), Josh Heuston (Constantine Corrino), Chris Mason (Keiran Atreides), Chloe Lea (Lila), Jade Anouka (Sister Theodosia), Travis Fimmel (Desmond Hart), the legendary Emily Watson (Valya Harkonnen) and Olivia Williams (Tula Harkonnen), executive producer Jordan Goldberg, and showrunner Alison Schapker
Check out what they all had to say here:
Jodhi May
Hi Jodhi, thank you for doing this! Did you get any inspirations for your performance from anything we may have seen with Villeneuve‘s films or the Herbert books themselves?
May: There’s such an incredible sense in the books, but also in the Villeneuve films, of magic, and mysticism, and mystery. And Allison and I spoke a lot about that. And she really felt that that was the world that Natalya comes from. So that really informs her sense of relying on instinct – on something very human. Maybe something very analog, to put it bluntly. And her suspicion of the thinking machines, and this whole kind of – the modern day equivalent to something like A.I. So yeah, I absolutely took inspiration from the films because, you know, some of my favorite scenes are the scenes in the desert where there’s return back to something very spiritual. Very instinctive. And for me that’s what makes the films so magical I think. And I think for Frank Herbert, there’s a real sense of trust in nature. I think that’s what he always brings you back to as an audience. Trust in nature. And his message is really stop destorying it. Stop exploiting it. And for me Natalya is the essence of that message.
Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Chris Mason, and Josh Heuston
I wanted to say that, though Ynez is part of the sisterhood, we don’t see her intersecting with Valya and Tula’s storylines yet. But there is kind of a mutual goal in mind. Can you tease where we see that intersection between their stories and goals happening in later episodes? What can you tease about that?
Boussnina: I don’t want to give anything away, but there are definitely things they agree on in terms of plans in the future. And we’ll have to wait and see.
Are there any historical figures from Earth’s past or present that inspired your roles?
Boussnina: Yeah. I mean I dug into royal families and how it must feel to be born into the role of a royal, and living a secluded life. Dealing with everything that comes with that. Also how tradition always plays a huge part in every royal family. And we dug into specific royal [families].
Heuston: Yeah. Prince Harry. And the book Despair. I used Prince Hal as a reference, because he has that drunken persona… but yeah we spoke a lot about royal houses in general. Looked at a lot of YouTube videos about how they would have that facade in public. And you’d see paparazzi videos on them when they’re not necessarily on.
Boussnina: Yeah. And how it’s very complex because from a very young age they learn all this etiquette and tradition. And they have to live up to being at work when they’re out in public at formal events. But there’s so much more to that. A darker side. As we spoke about, the secluded life, not having any real friends. As Constantine knows they only have each other. Because they know the life they live holds value to strangers. It can be hard to trust people around them because they may want something out of them because of their position. And also how lonely that must feel. So for them having each other to rely on makes them super protective of each other.
Mason: And for my role as swordmaster, I looked into samurais and samurai teachings. And took a few lessons from there – like Japanese hapkido. To see how the coaches and senseis would teach. And that gave me a good understanding of the discipline needed on that sort of work. Less on the royal side.
Travis Fimmel and Jordan Goldberg
Thank you so much for your time. For Travis, we’ve seen you play your share of heroes and villains in the past. As someone who is so incredibly likable, what is it like to play someone completely unlikable, even though they’re charming and charismatic?
Fimmel: I’m not offended at all (laughs). No, it’s great mate! It’s fun. He’s got a lot of issues mentally. He’s a very pained human being. And he feels justified in what he does. Who doesn’t want to rob a bank or get into a car chase with a cop? I love being the bad guy!
How fleshed out is this series in terms of lasting many seasons?
Goldberg: When you get to episode 6 you’ll see. Some truths come out that have a lot of legs to tell more stories about. The world that Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson (in the new books) — there’s so much to touch upon in this universe. Our characters themselves are incredibly rich in their choices, backstories, motivations, etc give potential for more stories. I’m hoping we can go as long as we can. The show is called Dune: Prophecy so we’re just getting started really about how all this comes to be 10,000 years later with Paul Atreides.
Alison Schapker
Loved what I’ve seen so far. I have to ask, when you’re playing in the Dune sandbox (no pun intended), you’re entering into a franchise with an established look and feel from Denis Villeneuve. With someone like you who’s worked on Altered Carbon and Westworld you’re able to put your own visual style on those sorts of shows. What was it like adapting into someone else’s visual style and how do you blend in your own style with what’s been established?
Schapker: Great question. We were definitely influenced by the films and Denis’ universe that was set up. He unlocked Dune for people, keeping it an incredible spectacle but grounded with its characters. And so yes, we do view ourselves as 10,000 years earlier, speaking to those films from a distance. But what really helped us distinguish ourselves is that we’re not really on Arrakis. So while Arrakis exerts a pull in the Imperium, as it does in any Dune story, it’s at a distance. It’s haunting us from afar, it’s influencing events from afar. And we were able to set our story on worlds that will hopefully be fun for Dune fans who enjoyed the movies, to go to different planets they haven’t been before… that was really fun. And anytime someone sets a high aesthetic bar, I think it’s inspiring to go meet your own.
I love how seamlessly this ties into the larger Dune universe. But I love that there’s this intimate story between Valya and Tula, and it’s the core and soul of this series. Can you talk about casting Emily Watson and Olivia Williams, and the origins of the familial sisterhood between them, and how you developed all that for the series?
Schapker: Valya and Tula I agree are the beating heart of the show. It’s part of something we very consciously wanted to explore. The Sisterhood as the institution, but also sisterhood as a very specific familial relationship. And these are Harkonnen sisters who share a very traumatic past who are in relationship to the Imperium. How are they going to take the reigns of an institution? And what does it mean when an individual is in charge? How are they shaped by The Sisterhood? How do they shape it? Where is their loyalty to the group their representing and where is their loyalty to themselves? Their family dynamic? These are all things we wanted to explore. So Emily Watson and Olivia Williams are such powerhouse actresses. They are astounding to watch. They’ve never worked together but they’ve been in each others’ orbits so long. I’ve heard them speak about what it means for them to be working together, which is just a joy to behold and so lucky for the show. I do think it’s magic the way they embody those characters.
Chloe Lea and Jade Anouka
Really impressed by how well you hold your own as performers alongside Olivia Williams and Emily Watson on screen. When you both were told you were going to be acting opposite them, what was going through your minds as actors and how do you up your game to match them scene for scene?
Anouka: When I was told, that was a massive pull for me! Getting to work with Emily, and [Chloe] with Olivia. And I think we’re fortunate in that both those women are so generous. They’re such generous actors and people. And it meant that they really worked with us. And we really did scenes together and it wasn’t like “I’m up here and you’re down there.” It’s like “we’re both actors in a scene, let’s try to tell this story in the best of our abilities.” And making sure this was a relationship. And I had the best time working with Emily. She’s incredible.
Lea: With Olivia, when I was doing scenes with her, I remember feeling like a better actor afterwards because you feel like you really have to up your game. And it’s stuff that you can’t even verbally describe. But it’s stuff you pick up when acting opposite someone that is so intimate. It’s between you two. And I feel like I picked up a lot of that stuff from Olivia. So I’m really grateful we got to act with these legends.
Anouka: I feel like we’re really lucky in that we get to do lots of our scenes with these guys. Yeah!
Emily Watson and Olivia Williams
It’s really truly an honor. One of the things I found compelling about the show is the theme of truth and what the truth can be. On one hand we’re so used to seeing the Atreides being the good guys and the Harkonnen being the bad guys. We get a different viewpoint of that here, as well as several figures in the series altering what persists as the truth with other characters in the show. So as performers, when reading the scripts, how did that theme speak to you and how did that alter your performances?
Watson: Absolutely I think the whole drama is driven by what we perceive to be a lie. Which is that our family, our great grandfather, was betrayed by his comrades in the Machine Wars. And this was a lie perpetrated by the Atreides, and we were banished and dishonored because of it. And we have sought — Valya particularly is driven by — vengeance. And a desire to overturn that line. And then The Sisterhood becomes a refuge for that rage and power she has.
Williams: To see how truth can be wielded as an instrument of power, which we’ve seen. And if only there was such a power that I had to be able to say “This is the truth, and anybody who disagrees with it can be eliminated.” Because the absolute truth, as we know, as we [came across the US election], has become obfuscated. And there doesn’t seem to be a thing as absolute truth at the moment.
Watson: It’s also that The Sisterhood present as these women whose function it is to tell truth from lies. But in fact behind the scenes, they’re far from truthful. They’re manipulating that power. They’re manipulating truth as a commodity and allowing people to stay in power or not. The push and pull of a rebellion and rulers is under their control… So while they’re truthsayers they are extremely devious.
Dune: Prophecy debuts tonight, with new episodes every Sunday, only on HBO and Max. Stay tuned to The Nerds of Color for more coverage on Dune: Prophecy to come!