Dune: Prophecy‘s upcoming premiere has left some fans with questions. The Dune universe is an expansive one, taking place twenty thousand years from the present day. This time is shaped by the Butlerian Jihad, a long-ago war against “thinking machines” that ended with humanity winning and outlawing computers of just about any kind. This led to humanity depending on human skill and ingenuity, enhanced by drugs like the spice melange, to take the place of technology. Various “schools formed” and Dune: Prophecy is focused on the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, a group of women with a singular goal – to create the perfect being. Dune: Prophecy takes place back in the earliest days of the Bene Gesserit, ten thousand years before the movies.
Dune and Dune: Part Two grabbed the imaginations of moviegoers and Dune: Prophecy aims to do the same. However, the show is also only related to the events of the movies by being a part of the same universe. The events of Dune: Prophecy are a prequel to those of the films, with its setting very, very different from that of the films, in more ways than one. This is mainly because exactly when the show takes place and the huge differences in the political situation of humanity, as well as the circumstances of the Bene Gesserit themselves.
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Dune: Prophecy Takes Viewers Back Millennia
Dune and Dune: Part Two take place in the year 10,191 AG, which means ten thousand, one-hundred and ninety-one years after the founding of the Spacing Guild – AG means after Guild. Dune: Prophecy takes place near the beginning of AG years and takes its cues from prequel novels by Brian Herbert, son of original Dune author Frank Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson, namely the Great Schools Of Dune trilogy. These books take place immediately after their Butlerian Jihad trilogy. Humanity has just won its war against the Machines and formed the new Imperium, with House Corrino at the center. The Atreides are heroes of the war, with Vorian Atreides having helped stem the tide of the Machines. The actions of Vladimir Harkonnen, meanwhile, having disobeyed orders to destroy refugee ships that the Machines were using as decoys, have made his House pariahs. Meanwhile, the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Mentat school, which teaches people to hone their minds to computer-like efficiency, began their shuffling for power in the nascent Imperium.
This is a very interesting time in the history of the Imperium. Each of these schools, and certainly humanity itself, are trying to find their way in a universe unlike any they had experienced for thousands of years. Earth is no more, as the Machine-held world was destroyed during the war, and various factions are jockeying for power. The show follows sisters Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen and Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen as they do their best to bring the sisterhood into the most advantageous position they can while also figuring out what they can do to erase the stain on their family’s honor. Dune: Prophecy hinges on political intrigue, as the various factions of the young Imperium all have their own agendas and are in a mad scramble for power, each with the potential to change the universe with their actions.
Dune: Prophecy Takes Place In A Very Interesting Time In Dune History
The Dune novels took readers to a world that was different than any other sci-fi universe out there. The original six books are all about humanity, politics, and ecology, and those themes played their roles in the Dune movies. The Imperium of the Dune universe is among the most intriguing empires in science fiction, and the various schools like the Bene Gesserit are a big part of what makes it so interesting. The Dune films did a remarkable job of presenting this universe in a visually compelling style that told the story of Dune in a new way, one that eschewed the complex exposition that made the books so beloved to the more pedantic among the fanbase. Dune: Prophecy has a chance to flesh out the Bene Gesserit in a way the movies didn’t, while also giving fans a glimpse of a time they have never seen before.
Dune: Prophecy has a rich history to pull from, both from the film and book side. Setting the show so far back in the past allows it to do things that may presage the movies but also won’t recontextualize their events too much. While basing it on the works of Brian Herbert and Anderson may cause some Frank Herbert diehards to skip the series, Dune: Prophecy is a must-watch for fans of the movies who want to understand more about the universe and how it works. Setting it so far in the past allows the show to tell its own story, one that will have repercussions on the world of the movies in ways that will enlighten viewers.
