Dune: Prophecy: The Complete First Season: Impeccably Made, but Narratively Sluggish (4K)

The Show:

Back in 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film & TV rights to Frank Herbert's "Dune" series and immediately began work on an adaptation of the first book that saw Oscar-nominated director Denis Villeneuve at the helm. However, even before the first part of the adaptation came out, they were so impressed by the work done so far that they felt confident enough to expand the universe even further by ordering the development of a spinoff TV series in 2019. Based in part on the "Great Schools of Dune" trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, it took a few years to come to pass, arriving after the major success of Villeneuve's two-part epic, but at last in 2024 we finally got to see the result. Could it possibly measure up to fans' expectations after the extreme popularity of the films?

Set 10,000 years before the events of "Dune," the series begins by introducing us to sisters Valya (Jessica Barden) and Tula Harkonnen (Emma Canning), members of the Sisterhood, an order that advises the Great Houses as Truthsayers. Before the Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul (Cathy Tyson) passes away, she has a vision of a reckoning happening in the future that could destroy the Sisterhood. Her granddaughter & successor, Dorotea (Camilla Beeput), decides to destroy her grandmother's special breeding program, which she had been using to develop the perfect leader for the Imperium, but Valya uses her special ability known as "The Voice" to force her to kill herself.

30 years later, Valya (Emily Watson) is now Mother Superior. She arranges for Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina), daughter of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong), to marry the very young Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) in the hope of it stabilizing the Corrino bloodline. Meanwhile, a soldier named Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) has returned from Arrakis after an ambush wiped out his regiment, claiming that it was insurgents, not Fremen, who were responsible. Further discussion between Desmond and the Emperor reveals the latter's doubts about the upcoming marriage, leading the former to use a special power of his own to eliminate the young groom-to-be. This simultaneously causes a similar death for the Imperial Truthsayer, Kasha Jinjo (Jihae), causing Valya to believe that the predicted reckoning could be upon them.

With the massive success of the two "Dune" films, which garnered critical acclaim and over a billion dollars at the box office, it's even more understandable why Legendary would want to continue tapping into this incredible world of material, and the mysterious Sisterhood (eventually called the "Bene Gesserit") certainly seemed like a potentially great starting point. This is a strange group that, while talked about in length in Frank Herbert's original series and in the subsequent novels by his successors, was never delved into very far in the film adaptations, making it a ripe area for exploration.

When it comes to "Dune: Prophecy," we do get to learn a little of the order's history, how they started, what they do, and about the secret breeding program meant to bring about a perfect leader, but as far as the actual narrative of the show goes, it ends up being something of a mixed bag. There are decent moments of intrigue sprinkled throughout these six episodes, and a few good twists and turns to help keep it chugging along, but the main problems that the show faces are in the fact that the story is simply rather ho-hum, with pacing that makes it take quite a while for any significant developments to occur.

That said, it is a very well-made show. The production design, costumes, visual effects, and the craft that went into the filming itself are all impeccable, with fine performances all around. All of this goes a long way towards making it a show that's pleasing to the eyes, but sadly, its talented ensemble and all of its artistry can't do much to hide the fact that the show's writing isn't quite where it should be.

Again, the Sisterhood could've been a fascinating area to delve into, but opting for a sluggish story that never really comes to life doesn't really do the material any favors. Then again, perhaps it's just freshman problems that the show needed to work out before they truly get its engine humming. It's already been renewed for a second season, giving the creative team another chance to do a little more with this story than the little they've been doing so far. It's been a bit of a rocky start, now we can only hope that they'll take their upcoming second chance to tap into the great potential of the material and turn it into the captivating show it could be when that potential is taken advantage of.

Video/Audio:

Video: 2:1, 2160p UHD

Audio: Dolby Atmos-TrueHD

Special Features:

Building Worlds: Cast and crew take you behind the scenes for an in-depth look at how they created the many worlds of "Dune: Prophecy."

Five extended "Behind the Veil" featurettes

Conclusion:

"Dune: Prophecy: The Complete First Season" is an impeccably-made show, featuring outstanding production design, costumes, visual effects, and more, but when it comes to the narrative itself, it's more of a mixed bag. It provides moments of intrigue, as well as twists & turns throughout to keep it chugging along, but with a rather ho-hum story, and pacing that makes these developments take quite a while to occur, the result is a show that never truly taps into the great potential provided by its fascinating subject.

Score: 3/5

Available on 4K starting tomorrow.

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