Dune: Prophecy is one of the big premieres of the 2024 TV premiere schedule, and it’s very much a reflection of one of the big current development strategies at Warner Bros.: expanding the worlds of blockbuster movies with in-canon television shows. DC’s The Penguin series will dive into the criminal underworld of Gotham as introduced in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and the upcoming Welcome To Derry will explore the history of the spooky setting of Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and Dune: Part Two are also part of this grand plan, as audiences will soon get to experience more sci-fi majesty with Dune: Prophecy.
The new show has been in the works for a while now, first announced back in June 2019 with the title Dune: The Sisterhood, and there have been more than a few development bumps along the way, but now the show is finally almost here. When is Dune: Prophecy going to be released? Is there a Dune: Prophecy trailer? Who are the filmmakers making Dune: Prophecy, and who is in the cast? We’ll answer all of those questions and more in this handy guide, which we’ll continue to update in the weeks and months leading up to the premiere.
When Is The Dune: Prophecy Premiere Date?
The release strategy for Dune: Prophecy has changed over time, and not just because the show took a number of years to get made. When it was first announced, the idea was for it to be an exclusive release for those with Max subscriptions, but plans have since been changed, and it will now debut as an HBO original series in November 2024.
Of course, like all HBO programming (including House Of The Dragon and more), Dune: Prophecy episodes will premiere on the premium cable channel, but they will also get a simultaneous streaming debut on Max the night that they air.
Dune: Prophecy’s Trailer Provides An Early Look At The Expansion Of The Sci-Fi Franchise
The very first preview of Dune: Prophecy debuted online in mid-May 2024, but it was in July 2024 that fans got to see the first full look at the upcoming HBO series. There is clearly a continuity with the Denis Villeneuve Dune films aesthetically, but there is a completely different narrative in play and a whole new collection of characters. This is in large part because there is a significant distinction between the settings of the blockbusters and the show.
Dune: Prophecy Is Set Thousands Of Years Before The Dune Movies
Frank Herbert’s Dune and Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation take place about 20,000 years in the future, but Dune: Prophecy will be rewinding the clocks back – specifically to the halfway point. The show takes place 10,000 years before Dune – but it still has strong ties to the story in the blockbusters via its characters.
Valya and Tula Harkonnen – ancestors of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Lady Jessica, and Paul Atreides and more – will be the central protagonists in the series, and their actions will end up having major consequences on the universe, as the story will see them form the exceptionally powerful religious sect known as the Bene Gesserit.
The Dune: Prophecy Cast Is Led By Emily Watson And Olivia Williams
Here’s the bad news: fans are probably not going to see much or any of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Fergusson, Javier Bardem or any of the other Dune movie stars in Dune: Prophecy. Admittedly, visions of the future are a thing in this universe, but not to be forgotten is that the story is set thousands of years prior to the events in Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two. That being said, the sci-fi series has assembled an excellent ensemble cast of its own.
Playing Valya and Tula Harkonnen in Dune: Prophecy will be Emily Watson and Olivia Williams. The former was first cast in October 2022, though Shirley Henderson was originally cast in the latter role. Henderson left the project amid the behind-the-scenes shakeups in February 2023, and Williams replaced her as Tula about four months later when Anna Foerster boarded the show.
Furthering adding to his cred among genre fans, Mark Strong will play Emperor Javicco Corrino (an ancestor of Christopher Walken’s Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV from Dune: Part Two), and he will be joined as part of the royal family by Jodhi May as Empress Natalya and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Princess Ynez (per Deadline).
Vikings and Warcraft star Travis Fimmel will play a soldier named Desmond Hart, and the rest of the cast includes Shalom Brune-Franklin, Aoife Hinds, Chloe Lea, Jade Anouka, and Chris Mason.
Alison Schapker Is Dune: Prophecy’s Showrunner And Executive Producer, And Anna Foerster Is Directing The Pilot And Additional Episodes
As Dune: Prophecy gets set for release, Alison Schapker will be credited as showrunner and executive producer, and Anna Foerster is directing the pilot… but the full behind the scenes history with the show is a bit complicated, so strap in.
When Dune: Prophecy was announced, it was reported that Denis Villeneuve would direct the pilot and that Jon Spaihts would write the script, but that creative lineup did not stay in place. A month later, Good Girls Revolt creator Dana Calvo signed an overall deal with Legendary Television Studios, and she was made a co-showrunner on the Dune series with Spaihts. This partnership only lasted a few months, as The Hollywood Reporter said in November 2019 that Spaihts was stepping down (he is still attached as an executive producer).
Both behind the scenes changes and the pandemic put the project on pause, but Diane Ademu-John was hired to be the showrunner in July 2021. It was then about a year later that Denis Villeneuve opted out of directing duties, as he was deep in the process of making Dune: Part Two. Chernobyl director Johan Renck was hired to direct the first two episode of Dune: Prophecy in April 2022.
Production on Dune: Prophecy (then still using the working title Dune: The Sisterhood) began in late 2023 in Budapest, but behind-the-scenes shakeups continued. Like John Spaihts, Diane Ademu-John stepped down while staying onboard the project as a producer, and Alison Schapker was made the new sole showrunner. It was then reported a few months later that creative changes were being made during a planned hiatus in filming, as Johan Renck’s “auteur approach” didn’t properly line up with the franchise aesthetic Denis Villeneuve established with Dune: Part One.
In June 2023, filmmaker Anna Foerster signed on to direct the pilot and additional episodes of the series, and despite the on-going WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, production was able to continue under a contract with British Equity (which is the same reason HBO’s House Of The Dragon was able to continue shooting amid the labor disputes).
It’s unclear when production concluded, but according to a Collider interview with Pierre Gill, it was before the start of 2024.
Dune: Prophecy is one of our most anticipated shows on the way in 2024, so you can be sure that we’ll continue to update you about it as we get closer to its premiere in November. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of our coverage about the exciting sci-fi series in the coming weeks and months.
