Prophecy showrunner and Harkonnen sisters tease what’s coming for season 2

Dune: Prophecy It ended its first season with an epic 80-minute episode that didn’t exactly tie up any of its storylines, including the central mystery about who or what is using forbidden technology to create bioweapons on Arrakis. So it’s a good thing that the HBO series, a prequel set 10,000 years before the Denis Villeneuve films, will return in the future.

At a press conference scheduled for the finale of the first season, “The Overbearing Enemy,” Dune: ProphecyShowrunner and executive producer Alison Schapker, along with stars Emily Watson (Valya Harkonnen) and Olivia Williams (Tula Harkonnen), talked mostly about the first season, but teased a little about what’s to come.

Speaking about how the series unfolded over six episodes, considering its scope and number of characters, Schapker said the team stuck to one guiding rule: “giving each episode its own identity.”

But at the same time, he added, it was important to “feel that things had changed and that the characters had gone through something that had changed the story going forward. And it was very important to always understand the direct line of Valya and the story of Desmond and the story of Tula. I would say they were our main characters. But then it was a matter of trying to introduce everyone, and it’s a big, dense world. So it was a balancing act. But I’m very pleased with how the six episodes build up and culminate in the finale.”

As for where he wanted to leave things at the end of the first season, Schapker said: “I wanted to feel like the ground had really shifted beneath our feet at the end of the season, but at the same time we would have revelations that would make us understand it differently. to these characters and their dynamics, and that there would be a kind of recontextualization of the story. So that when you’ve seen the whole story, you’ll understand, ‘Oh, there was more going on than I realized at the beginning,’ which I think. which is in line with the way the Brotherhood works: the feeling that there are plans within plans, that there is more to the story than you see the first time. By the end of the first season, I think you have a real idea of ​​the story of. the sisters (Harkonnen), the history of the Brotherhood, and then a real revelation, a truth coming to light. And that was important to me, that fundamental change in the dynamic.

When asked about their characters’ mental state at the end of the first season, both Watson and Williams were reflective.

“I think everything (has changed between them),” Watson said. “But I think Valya is still holding on to (her idea of) ‘I’m the one.’ I have a destiny.’ (That’s still) your guide through this. But I would be very curious to know what happens next.”

Williams added: “I think the most important thing for Tula is the moment when (she says), ‘Please don’t kill my son.’ Believe me, I got it.’ And the fact that (Valya) trusts me and (I leave her with Desmond), without knowing that shortly after my son arrests me, (it is) that moment between the sisters when Tula is finally trusted with something, when everyone These years she is known to be very capable and very effective and has been treated like the younger sister. Sometimes people with that character like to stay in the shadows, and it will be interesting to see what happens if she is pushed more to the front and if she can handle it.”

Schapker built on that. “I love that idea of ​​what you’re saying: somehow the sisters switch (places) in the sense that Valya retreats into the shadows, and Tula is suddenly running the capital, and what that will mean for them . go ahead,” he said. “But I also think that any secret that comes out, the more you keep it, the pain around it needs to be metabolized… it makes you have to rethink your relationship over the years, like, how did I miss something? ?

Watson added: “I think it’s also a humbling moment because everything (my character) has done has been based on my leadership, my sense of truth. But in a way, Valya does not humiliate. It’s like ‘I’m not going to let the emotions go and I’m not afraid, so I’m just going to keep going.’”

When asked probably the biggest question left after the first season: who was behind Desmond’s transformation? Schapker remained vague about any potential season two spoilers. “(If) you look back at the first season, there are clues about Desmond’s identity and his power and where it all comes from,” he said. “As for some sort of shadowy figures (who are seen controlling their destiny in their visions), I think that remains to be seen in the future. But we try to plant it, I don’t know if people realize it, but the cloth he’s wearing the first time we see him, when Desmond Hart shows up and waves and walks towards the palace, it has this black cloth on it. That’s really kind of a sample of her mother, and she (reappears) throughout the entire series. He uses it in private moments as a (way to keep) his drive and connection alive. He finally meets her and is grabbing her royal dress, and realizes that what was once a piece of her baby blanket that she wrapped him in is (is (a Brotherhood cloth that he’s clinging to. And now he’s finally with his mother. I mean, “We tried to do things like that to build up and foreshadow where the story was going.”

Okay, but what about the second most important question: what’s going to happen now that Valya Harkonnen, Keiran Atreides, and Princess Ynez are on Arrakis? Here is Schapker, as expected, with some clues but not many details.

“After a season in which Arrakis exerted its influence from afar, whether in the economics of the spice trade or in the psychological aspects of the visions and nightmares that are sort of images of Arrakis and Desmond’s path seeping into consciousness of all, (it was our opportunity) to go and put boots on the ground in this incredibly overdetermined and almost mythical Dune space that we know very well but we kept it at a distance throughout the season. I think it is very significant that Valya is back there, and that she is back at Desmond’s point of origin, where he emerged with a story and a myth: “I am from Arrakis and I was swallowed by a worm and I survived after my death.” The entire regiment was killed. All I would say is that I think Valya will discover a lot more given that she is where Desmond emerged as an adversary, and it will be interesting to see what she discovers there.”

Indeed it will be! you can look Dune: Prophecy first season on HBO and Max; The second season is approaching but does not yet have a premiere date.

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