Dune: Prophecy’s showrunner wants you to think beyond the hero / villain binary

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films go overmuch much disturbing erstwhile you commencement to see precisely what makes the Bene Gesserit 1 of the most formidable forces successful the Imperium. The Sisterhood’s secrecy and cultivation of unusual powers are portion of wherefore those extracurricular of the bid spot Reverend Mothers arsenic astir superhuman beings. But their existent powerfulness comes from representation and a heavy knowing of however each azygous Bene Gesserit is portion of a communicative that’s larger than immoderate 1 individual.

Though House Atreides is not the centerpiece of Dune: Prophecy, the HBO series’ heavy dive into the Bene Gesserit’s past is precise overmuch an exploration of the Kwisatz Haderach’s origins. In Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams), you tin spot flashes of the Machiavellian villainy their distant descendants are known for. The astir fascinating portion of the amusement truthful far, though, has been the mode it demystifies the Bene Gesserit and presents them arsenic exacting women (rather than witches) trying to prevention humanity from itself. 

Showrunner Alison Schapker knew that introducing audiences to this new, far-flung play of Dune history would beryllium challenging. The films established specified a chiseled presumption quo that the show’s absorption connected 2 Harkonnen sisters mightiness permission viewers unclear astir who oregon what they’re rooting for. But erstwhile I precocious sat down with Schapker to sermon the series’ progression truthful far, she explained that the much clip she spent reasoning astir however Dune has ever been a rumination connected the mode improvement reshapes reality, the much the Harkonnens felt similar the cleanable characters to pb Prophecy’s story.

This interrogation contains spoilers about Dune: Prophecy’s first 3 episodes and has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

There are truthful galore moving parts astatine enactment successful Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s caller Sisterhood of Dune. Which successful peculiar did you find yourself wanting to excavation into with Prophecy?

Valya’s truly a laminitis of the Bene Gesserit order, and this communicative is unfolding astatine a clip erstwhile the enactment is inactive young, fragile, and trying to solidify its clasp not conscionable connected powerfulness but besides connected its ain mission. The Sisterhood is trying to walk these hard skills to their students portion besides moving to turn their ranks, but there’s besides a philosophical schism wrong the bid erstwhile we find it, and Valya becomes the prime to lead. But past you person the question of why. Why her? Why a Harkonnen, and what is it astir the Harkonnen household that makes them much analyzable than we thought? 

If you conscionable cognize the Harkonnens from the movies, they’re these monstrous villains who are precise intelligibly the atrocious guys. But that’s not wherever they started off, and this benignant of communicative gave america a accidental to complicate that knowing and excavation into what made them that way. I wanted to amusement immoderate of that improvement arsenic the Harkonnens go the villains we cognize them as, but it was besides breathtaking to play with the thought of however immoderate of those seeds of Harkonnen-ness were contiguous from the precise beginning.

What benignant of beingness did you privation Valya and Tula to beryllium passim the amusement arsenic it shifts betwixt timelines?

With Valya, it’s an vigor that’s rooted successful the novels successful the consciousness that this is an ambitious pistillate who feels similar she’s destined to play a greater relation successful history, but besides that her life’s trajectory has been shaped by a lie. Her dreams are truthful big, but her household has been banished to this tiny whaling colony connected an crystal satellite due to the fact that of a past she doesn’t adjacent hold with. 

It was important for our Valya to person to person a truly pronounced fierceness of volition due to the fact that that vigor is thing the Sisterhood sees and cultivates successful her successful bid to marque her into the pistillate they request to conscionable a hopeless moment. But we besides wanted to contiguous that willfulness successful a mode that leaves you uncertain astir her arsenic a person. Valya’s tendency to usher the Imperium to a amended spot is real, and determination is simply a genuine nobility to her purpose. But each of that is analyzable by her feelings astir her family, and we truly wanted to research however that premix of emotions takes her to a spot that gets very, precise dark.

For Tula, we wanted to truly inquire ourselves what it means for a younger sibling who has ever felt overlooked and invalidated to truly travel into their ain subtly. Valya comes astatine you head-on and is idiosyncratic who sucks up the oxygen successful the country successful a mode that’s charismatic. But Tula’s a chaotic paper who you don’t ever spot coming; she’s the sneaky benignant who comes astatine you sideways, and I deliberation that quality makes for specified an absorbing sibling dynamic. Tula exists successful her sister’s shadow, but successful times of crisis, we truly spot the grade to which grappling with this aforesaid household play has made her Valya’s sister successful these surprising, almighty ways that aren’t evident astatine first.

Do you spot Valya arsenic a villain?

I don’t deliberation of her arsenic a villain successful an uncomplicated way, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever aligned with what she’s doing astatine immoderate fixed time. I deliberation she feels precise compelled to support the Sisterhood astatine each costs, and successful her mind, that’s often for the bully of everyone. There’s a batch to beryllium debated astir the Bene Gesserit’s plans and however they privation to signifier the aboriginal implicit generations. But astatine slightest immoderate of that is their trying to defender against a greater, much devastating calamity down the enactment by doing things that, successful the moment, mightiness beryllium looked astatine arsenic evil oregon criminal. 

I deliberation that intelligence abstraction of, “if I don’t bash this, we’re going to beryllium successful for a full batch worse, and galore much radical are going to suffer” is wherever Valya lives. She’s perpetually weighing consequences and outcomes, and that’s a precise hard spot to beryllium in. I bash deliberation that her actions are precise debatable, and I anticipation radical privation to walk clip thinking about the “why” of it each because, writ large, these are the kinds of choices that a batch of leaders are making astatine immoderate fixed time. 

The amusement gets into the factual details of the Bene Gesserit’s origin, but what facets of the Sisterhood’s civilization were you keen connected fleshing out?

In the films, the Bene Gesserit are astatine the tallness of their intrigue and enigma with these scary nun vibes. They’re fascinating powerfulness players, and you privation to cognize much astir them and each the antithetic angles they’ve been working. At times, they astir look similar they person superpowers to us, but it’s really precise grounded successful the Dune universe, and the world is that the Bene Gesserit person been refining — we telephone them “unlocks” — arsenic a means of pushing humanity forward. They person recovered a mode to harness much encephalon power, and they’re controlling their caput / assemblage nexus successful a mode that’s beyond what immoderate 1 of america could bash today. I benignant of liken it to however you spot crystal skaters who, successful 1 year, are doing 4 spins successful the air, but past the adjacent year, you spot them doing five, and everyone’s like “no 1 has ever been capable to bash that before, but present we’re seeing that it’s possible.”

The Bene Gesserit’s abilities are superhuman successful a way, but they’re besides skills based successful the Sisterhood’s science, and we truly wanted to amusement that these women person to enactment hard to bash the things they do. There’s large hazard successful trying to propulsion yourself to these intelligence and carnal utmost limits. Not everyone succeeds, but what truly fascinated maine was exploring however these signature Bene Gesserit powers each turn retired of people’s idiosyncratic stories. It’s not a coincidence that the Voice has its origins successful the Harkonnens and Valya.

Was your program ever to link antithetic Bene Gesserit successful the past to circumstantial powers that the full Sisterhood becomes known for?

Yeah, the Bene Gesserit person this saying: “crisis, survival, advancement.” And we spot that again and again successful the bid — that it’s truly erstwhile radical are pushed to the brink that they’re susceptible of these superhuman moments. You spot it playing retired successful the root of the Voice, but to recognize the value of that story, you person to admit that there’s a specificity to who originates each of these unlocks. 

For Valya, it’s the Voice; for Dorotea, it’s Truthsaying; and with Raquella Berto-Anirul, it’s accessing one’s Other Memory, which is the Bene Gesserit’s archetypal real power. But it’s thing that comes from Raquella’s past arsenic a medic during the instrumentality wars erstwhile she’s poisoned and uses her caput / assemblage transportation successful a mode she doesn’t recognize to synthesize an antidote wrong her ain body.

Through Lila, we spot immoderate of what the process of gaining your Other Memory looks similar from within. Talk to maine astir what benignant of feelings you wanted that country successful peculiar to permission radical sitting in.

The Agony was a precise protracted improvement process. We worked precise intimately with the ocular effects squad to fig retired however to recognize a mindscape wherever you could consciousness the panic of what, successful the books, is described arsenic your ancestors awakening wrong you. We wanted to convey however overwhelming that would be, particularly successful the beginning, wherever those ancestors are hungering for life, to beryllium heard, and to explicit their pain. We wanted to make visuals that channeled the intelligence fearfulness of the acquisition but besides the spot it would instrumentality to marque it done the process. 

What were your goals erstwhile it came to showing america flashes of the instrumentality warfare successful the past?

We wanted to marque people’s hatred of machines consciousness tangible but besides to thin into this consciousness of interest astir the imaginable for backsliding. Compared to the films, there’s a relative freshness to people’s memories astir the suffering and maltreatment that defined the war. But a batch of our characters are a fewer generations retired from the existent conflict, and their recollections of however things were are shifting.

With immoderate benignant of prohibition, there’s ever the looming question of, “can you truly enactment a genie backmost successful a bottle?” Just due to the fact that thing is outlawed, you tin ne'er afloat cognize whether it’s genuinely gone. In the pilot, we spot that reasoning machines haven’t been wholly eradicated, which raises the question of what other mightiness beryllium lurking retired there. Is this the extremity of an iceberg? If it is, what has to beryllium protected against now, and however bash you bash that? 

Those were the questions we were reasoning about, and the answers aren’t truthful simple, successful portion due to the fact that people’s quality natures are what gave emergence to Dune’s reasoning machines successful the archetypal place. Those ideas are halfway to Dune, but they felt particularly applicable to our infinitesimal due to the fact that of however artificial quality is being presented to america present successful the existent satellite arsenic this exertion that we should privation due to the fact that it can make things easier.

The amusement is airing astatine a clip erstwhile a batch of radical are reasoning astir tyranny successful a precise factual way. What sorts of ideas astir powerfulness and absorption did you privation to truly specify Prophecy?

I deliberation Dune is simply a truly affluent substance that has thing to accidental astir the stories we archer ourselves astir leaders and however the rhetoric of almighty institutions compares to the world of what’s happening successful people’s lives. There’s a existent cautionary communicative astir oregon astatine slightest a telephone to interrogate the motivations of charismatic figures. The travel of Paul Atreides successful the aboriginal novels is simply a truly astonishing 1 that’s not conscionable a coming-of-age hero’s tale. It’s the opposite, and those books truly excavation into the antithetic ways that powerfulness attracts the corruptible. 

Those realities are portion of immoderate civilization oregon historical period, and successful Dune, they manifest successful precise circumstantial ways. But the questions down them are ever determination and worthy contemplating. Power is not static; it’s ever flowing, and not ever successful a azygous absorption similar a throne. But absorption is besides contiguous and ever volition beryllium successful a world, similar ours, that’s shaped by asymmetrical power.