The primary season of “Dune: Prophecy” got here to a detailed on Sunday with a couple of gasp-inducing revelations and much more questions. HBO’s prequel sequence, set 10,000 years earlier than the occasions of Denis Villeneuve’s movies “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two,” wove a fancy net of storylines over six episodes, culminating in a prolonged finale that reunited sisters Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams).
Within the tumultuous episode, flashbacks reveal that Tula gave start to a secret son, who seems to be literal fire-starter Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel). We additionally be taught that Valya earned her management of the Sisterhood, the forebearers of the Bene Gesserit, via mass homicide.
“You need to really feel like there have been sufficient solutions given,” showrunner Alison Schapker explains of the targets of the finale. “That you simply’ve been on a journey in Season 1 and also you realized issues. Then, by the tip, every part has modified and also you perceive who these characters are, what’s between them, what the stakes are and what the reality is in a brand new manner.”
The finale concludes on Arrakis, the place Valya has escaped with Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) and Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason) after the loss of life of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Sturdy). It’s turn into clear that Desmond’s powers haven’t come from the sandworms, as he claimed, however from one other mysterious power.
“It felt very becoming that after being haunted by Arrakis that Valya return to the place this began,” Schapker says. “It is going to be actually fascinating to see what she’s going to dig up now that she’s going after a hidden hand.”
Alison Schapker, showrunner of HBO’s “Dune: Prophecy.”
(Luke Fontana)
Schapker, who joined the prequel sequence in 2022, drew on her intensive profession engaged on exhibits like “Alias,” “Fringe,” “The Flash” and “Westworld” as she and the writers sculpted the episodes. She admits to feeling some strain in adapting and increasing the beloved materials in Frank Herbert’s “Dune” novels however is happy with how the solid and crew have introduced the universe to the small display.
“It’s an enormous world to get out on its toes,” Schapker says. “Individuals’s expectations for it had been, rightly so, particular and engaged, and I’m so glad we obtained to inform this story.”
Right here, in a dialog edited for readability and size, Schapker discusses the specifics of the “Dune: Prophecy” finale, in addition to her hopes for what’s to come back after HBO introduced on Thursday that it was renewing the present for an additional season.
What’s your response to getting a second season and is there something you’ll be able to tease?
I’m thrilled that “Dune: Prophecy” has gotten a pickup and that we are able to proceed telling the story of Valya and Tula Harkonnen and the rise of the Bene Gesserit. The chance to delve deeper into these characters and their nook of the “Dune” universe is one which I treasure. I’m grateful to everybody who watched and invested in our sequence and made this Season 2 occur. Our writers room is already up and working, and I couldn’t be extra excited for what’s coming subsequent.
Did your staff have entry to the designs from the “Dune” movies, for instance, for the sandworm we get to see within the finale?
No. However Denis was very beneficiant. One factor that we felt, and Legendary and HBO agreed, was that we wished to be within the universe of the movies. So with the worms, who’re such outdated gods of Arrakis and these historic creatures, we wished to make use of the worm idea that we noticed within the movies. And Denis was very supportive of that call. However it’s not that we took his recordsdata and used it. We needed to make it ourselves. We actually wished to be formidable within the look of the present, and that simply took such great effort. It’s arduous on a TV price range and a TV schedule, irrespective of how beneficiant and the way supportive the studio is, to do this.
What was most necessary so that you can do thematically within the finale?
We knew we wished to carry Valya and Tula collectively. They’ve anchored the storyline on two separate planets for the season. However it was so necessary that we reunite them in an explosive manner, and I knew the three-act construction we wished to do this in.
Did you all the time plan for Desmond to be Tula’s youngster?
Sure, completely.
Within the tumultuous season finale, flashbacks reveal that Tula gave start to a secret son, who seems to be fire-starter Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel).
(HBO)
How does Tula know the place her son is and what his title is?
She is aware of he’s on Salusa Secundus. She lands within the area port and hears the whispers of her ancestors telling her Valya is close to and that occurs to be the place he’s. I don’t suppose she knew when she landed on the area port or thought, “I’ll meet him on the area port.” It was a little bit of a collision course. She sees Valya with him and I believe she understands.
Desmond isn’t within the books. What did you need to obtain with that storyline?
It’s very highly effective within the “Dune” universe when a Harkonnen and an Atreides join, and that’s actually a part of the longer story we need to inform. I don’t need to converse an excessive amount of. However you see Valya is saying, “This youngster has a lot potential. He may change worlds.” He has that charismatic potential that makes him a very highly effective determine. Valya desires to harness it, and Tula begins to really feel that nothing good goes to come back of their shaping his life. The query turns into: In the event that they’re not the one ones who perceive that about him, who else noticed that and the way and why was he weaponized? That offers us extra inquiries to information us sooner or later.
Did you all the time plan to string flashbacks via all the season?
Yeah, and it’s robust with six [episodes]. The prologue was a flashback, and I wished to nearly come full circle. I used to be excited to begin the finale in the way in which the prologue began however then add a brand new layer to it and proceed the story so you actually understood the previous. It felt necessary to grasp the circumstances of Desmond’s conception and what he was born out of, so Episode 3 was a deep dive with the youthful time interval to set that desk so the finale would hopefully land. You additionally wanted to grasp that there was a secret between the Sisterhood this complete time.
It’s very stunning to search out out that younger Valya and her followers killed so many members of the Sisterhood to get into energy.
There’s blood on her fingers. The issues Desmond mentioned to Valya all season develop into very true. She rose to energy in a violent manner. Valya would clarify why that was essential and I’ve empathy for her selections. The guts of the present is debating what lengths we might go to within the current if we actually believed we had been defending the longer term. I don’t suppose Valya killed them for pleasure. I believe she felt pushed to towards the wall by Dorotea and her followers.
Valya (Emily Watson) “rose to energy in a violent manner,” says Schapker.
(HBO)
Why do you suppose the acolytes are so fast to comply with Dorotea as she reemerges in Lila?
It’s a horrifying revelation that there’s a mass grave on the coronary heart of the Sisterhood, and so they haven’t any context to grasp it proper now aside from what Dorotea is telling them. You see Jen wrestling a bit [with] find out how to course of this. I don’t suppose it’s throughout, by any means, however Dorotea picks up the place she left off. And he or she was a zealot. “Dune” is a very large world. It has lots of gamers and there are characters that I really feel like I’ve large plans for who simply obtained a desk set in Season 1. Like all of these acolytes. We’re specializing in them for a cause, proper? The journey they’re on may be very important to the story.
General, how a lot did you find yourself pulling from the books and the way a lot did you invent?
The characters and eventualities are within the books, so we had been positively impressed by the books and in locations we tailored and extrapolated otherwise, however tried to maintain within the spirit of what was specified by the books. Lots of the Tula and Desmond and Valya stuff within the current is stuff we’ve been creating together with the Herbert property. I’m actually happy with the story between Valya and Tula and the place it goes. I used to be actually moved by the place we obtained to with them, and I believe there’s lots of chance to proceed.
How was the Herbert property concerned?
They learn the scripts. We may ask them questions. They might ask us questions. They had been dialed in to what we had been doing. We all the time appreciated their enter. It was a supportive working relationship. What I cherished about it was it didn’t preclude us from creating. I felt like we had been in a position to do the work of adaptation and to translate the story to a medium in a manner that we had been enthusiastic about doing, however all the time from a spot of deep respect. Essentially the most daunting, but additionally essentially the most thrilling a part of the gig, was attending to be within the “Dune” sandbox, so to talk.
Has Denis seen the present?
I don’t know. I believe Denis may be very a lot centered on what he’s doing for the films. However I do know he intends to, and I hope to have a dialog about it in some unspecified time in the future.
You’ve labored on lots of exhibits within the sci-fi and fantasy world. What do you want about that form of storytelling?
I like the creativeness of it. I like the world constructing of it. I like having to consider all these particulars. There’s a lot room for creativity and marvel and scope if you may get the human story working, which is an important factor to me.
Earlier than “Dune: Prophecy,” you labored on the final season of “Westworld.” Have been there plans for extra episodes had it not been canceled?
I positively really feel like Jonathan [Nolan] and Lisa [Joy] have an finish to the story that has but to be informed. The world works in mysterious methods and if sometime I ever obtained to see that finish, I’d be so thrilled. Engaged on “Westworld,” to me, was one other formative expertise and a narrative that I believe solely is changing into increasingly more comprehensible and current.
You additionally labored on “Alias,” one other present with robust girls on the forefront and big scope.
What a present that was early in my profession. I’m all the time grateful to have come up within the community age since you obtained to essentially stay in exhibits for a protracted time frame. I did three years on “Alias.” It was a lot enjoyable. I cherished the story, too. J.J. [Abrams] had a really dynamic and inventive room. It was a present that was reaching to do extra with the small display than had been completed, and J.J. actually didn’t restrict us.
Do you see a commonality via all the exhibits you’ve labored on?
One thing I completely attempt for is to discover a strategy to floor issues in character in order that emotionally you are feeling such as you’ve watched one thing that is smart to you on a human stage, however on the identical time, I wish to go to work and take into consideration issues which are complicated and fascinating. I discover that working in science fiction has allowed me to not simply take into consideration folks, which I completely love doing, but additionally take into consideration a few of these extra summary concepts, like what’s the creation of synthetic intelligence going to do? That’s been actually gratifying in lots of the initiatives that I’ve completed.
