CNN
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The already expansive “Dune” universe is about to get even larger.
In Max’s six-part prequel sequence “Dune: Prophecy,” premiering Sunday, the story will stretch far past the huge Spice-infused deserts of the planet Arrakis that Timotheé Chalamet’s character Paul Atreides walked within the latest “Dune” movies directed by Denis Villeneuve.
“Prophecy” takes place in “completely completely different environments” and time intervals, in response to government producer Alison Schapker, who informed CNN in a latest interview that the present expands the “Dune” universe in a manner that feels cohesive to each the Frank Herbert supply materials and the flicks that got here earlier than it.
“‘Dune’ is a universe that individuals are connected to,” stated Schapker, whose earlier credit embrace main the cost on exhibits like “Westworld,” “Misplaced” and “Alias.” “It exists in a world that issues to individuals and I feel we needed to respect that.”
Schapker’s group in the end had “whole freedom” when it got here to organising these new interstellar locales, however they labored laborious to use the identical aesthetic requirements set by the movies in order that it feels just like the present “can exist within the universe that Denis so gorgeously placed on the display screen.”
“Prophecy” takes place 10,000 years earlier than the occasions seen in Villeneuve’s “Dune: Half 1” and “Dune: Half 2” motion pictures – that are primarily based on Herbert’s famed 1965 novel of the identical title – and tells the origin story of the Bene Gesserit, a strong group of ladies skilled to harness particular skills of the thoughts and physique.
Impressed by the “Colleges of Dune” ebook trilogy written by Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert’s son Brian Herbert, “Prophecy” follows sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen, who tackle the “forces that threaten the way forward for humankind and set up the fabled sect that may change into often known as the Bene Gesserit,” in response to an official synopsis.
One of many worlds featured within the sequence is Salusa Secundus, seen in Villeneuve’s movies as a jail planet, however in “Prophecy” it’s offered as an imperial planet.
The sequence can even showcase worlds like Wallach IX, the place the sisterhood that Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula (Olivia Williams) oversee has its institutional base, and Lankiveil, an icy and forbidding planet the place the Harkonnens have been banished to throughout this era within the story’s historical past.
Whereas there was an emphasis on making these worlds really feel as “actual and gritty and epic” as doable in a visible sense, it was additionally essential to floor the sprawling story and wealthy lore by means of the present’s characters to offer “Dune” newcomers a simple entry into the franchise.
“That was an actual aware type of tightrope stroll we did,” stated Schapker, who asserts you can nonetheless benefit from the sequence with out having learn the books or seen the movies.
That stated, “Prophecy” serves extra of an grownup viewers with a few of its extra intimate scenes. Having the ability to enterprise into this territory – with out, in fact, being gratuitous – was a pleasure for Schapker.
“I liked that we have been allowed to be grown up sci-fi,” Schapker stated. “It actually was very enjoyable to permit our characters to have three dimensional humanity to them, together with their sexuality, and that the present can enable individuals to go and depict the spicier moments.”
Spicier, on this case, shouldn’t be confused with the much-contested and coveted substance on the middle of the “Dune” lore.
The primary episode of “Dune: Prophecy” premieres Sunday on Max. (Max and HBO, like CNN, are models of Warner Bros. Discovery.)