The origin story of the Bene Gesserit has a premiere date — more or less — at HBO.
The premium cable outlet will debut Dune: Prophecy, a prequel series to director Denis Villeneuve’s film franchise, in November; a specific date will be announced later. The series was developed as an original for HBO’s sibling streamer Max but will instead premiere under the HBO umbrella — meaning it will air on the cable network and stream on Max — as part of a rebranding strategy at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Along with the premiere month announcement, HBO released a second teaser for Dune: Prophecy — this one featuring some new footage and more dialogue than the first clip, which debuted in May. Watch the new teaser below.
Dune: Prophecy is set 10,000 years before the events of the recent films and is based on Sisterhood of Dune, a novel by Brian Herbert (the son of Dune author Frank Herbert) and Kevin J. Anderson. It will follow two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit.
Emily Watson and Olivia Williams star as Valya and Tula Harkonnen. The cast also features Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May, Mark Strong, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Josh Heuston, Chloe Lea, Jade Anouka, Faoileann Cunningham, Edward Davis, Aoife Hinds, Chris Mason, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Camilla Beeput, Jihae, Tabu, Charithra Chandran, Jessica Barden, Emma Canning and Yerin Ha.
HBO and Legendary Television are co-producing the series (Legendary is also behind the feature films). Alison Schapker is the showrunner and executive produces with Diane Ademu-John, who co-developed the series; Anna Foerster, who directed multiple episodes; Brian Herbert, along with Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert for the Frank Herbert estate; and Jordan Goldberg, Mark Tobey, John Cameron, Matthew King, Scott Z. Burns and Jon Spaihts. Anderson is a co-producer.