Dune: Prophecy gets premiere date and trailer from HBO

After two teasers, Max has unveiled the official trailer for the upcoming prequel series Dune: Prophecy. The news came out during the series' panel at New York Comic Con. The series is set 10,000 years before the rise of Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides in the Denis Villeneuve-directed films. It follows two Harkonnen sisters as they battle forces that threaten the future of humanity and found the legendary sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit. Those are the Jedi-like sisters from Frank Herbert's novels for the Star Wars fanatics among you.



Dune: Prophecy will consist of six episodes. The series has been in the works since the early days of HBO Max five years ago.

During the NYCC panel, seven actors from the series, including Emily Watson and Olivia Williams, appeared to delve deeper into the rivalries, politics and agendas of this former Dune universe. They were joined by showrunner and executive producer Alison Schapker and executive producer Jordan Goldberg.

Indian actress Tabu, who appears in the trailer, will also appear in the series, the group revealed during the hour-long conversation.

The panel also dropped that Dune: Prophecy will premiere in New York City on Wednesday, October 30.

Watson, als de 'moeder-overste' van de school voor jonge priesteressen in opleiding, zei: "Wat voor mij als acteur echt heerlijk was om in deze wereld te komen, was dat deze vrouwen uit een echt herkenbaar verknipt gezin komen. Ze hebben een vreselijke jeugd gehad en dat heeft ze als het ware weggedreven. En niets, niets in deze wereld is goed en slecht; alles is gecompromitteerd en vreemd, en toch is waar Valya Harkonnen haar zinnen op zet echt het bepalen van het juiste pad voor de mensheid. Dat is haar ambitie."

Schapker said Dune: Prophecy aims to pull back the curtain on the "women-only movement" that is becoming the powerful Bene Gesserit sisterhood. They are fortune tellers and human lie detectors who can also use their voices to monitor the behavior of others. “One of the great things about this series is that we certainly don't want to take away their mystique, but we do go behind their closed doors and see how they operate,” Schapker said.

It's also an early look at the Harkonnen family — the undisputed villains of Herbert's Dune universe — but, Schapker said, "at a time when they're not quite the monstrous version you see 10,000 years later." Dune: Prophecy also explores the origins of the interstellar family feud at the heart of the Dune canon between the depraved Harkonnens and the noble Atreides clan.

Filmed in Hungary, the series makes extensive use of real sets and locations, including an old cathedral, rather than projection technology and computer graphics to create backgrounds and scenery.

The official trailer shows Watson as the robed and stern head of the sisterhood with ambitions to, in her words, "advance our kind and rule the future." Amid images of vast alien landscapes and towering temple-like interiors, her Valya Harkonnen says that "now is the time to secure the throne and protect the empire."

Dune: Prophecy can be seen on HBO from Sunday, November 17.

Watch the trailer below.