Dune: Prophecy’s Biggest Problem is Assuming We All Care About Dune

With the prolific series finale of Dune: Prophecy landing over the weekend we can finally look back on the series as a whole and give it a fair shake. In doing so I’ve come to a conclusion about the show’s biggest flaw: it assumes audiences already care deeply about the world of Dune.

I’m not arguing that there aren’t any people who don’t care deeply about Dune — plenty of people care about Dune in ways that are deeply personal and character-defining. I’m arguing that Warner Bros. and showrunner Alison Schapker are assuming that everyone cares about Dune as a world and not just as two insanely awesome films. It’s a big assumption and one that steers not only the series in its creative choices but also the very franchise itself with the selection of Dune: Propehcy as the first big step for Dune into franchisdom.

I don’t think it paid off.

Dune Is Definitely a Hit

After decades of being unable to crack the code on Frank Herbert’s prolific, seminal, groundbreaking, and genre-defining novel, Warner Bros. finally succeeded with 2021’s Dune and 2024’s Dune: Part Two. The two films, directed by Denis Villeneuve, somehow not only managed to capture the complex world of the novel but also be some of the most breathtaking cinema we’ve seen. They were both, rightly, box office successes and Warner Bros. was keen to begin turning two movies into a full-blown cinematic universe and franchise. That led to the announcement that Villeneuve would direct a third film based on the second novel, Dune: Messiah. and a spin-off TV show be released based on the spin-off novel Sisterhood of Dune.

This, of course, makes sense for WB. Two massive hits like these films based on a beloved sci-fi series that has literally tens of thousands of pages of content and a built-in fan base to milk is a no-brainer for franchising. Novel sales have ticked up thanks to the film and the award-winning movies star two of the hottest actors working right now. If you’re a film company executive there is literally no good argument for not making more Dune. Even if you’re a fan it’s hard to argue against it given the quality and success of the movies. So this isn’t an argument against more Dune movies and shows it’s an argument against how they’re going about it.

Dune: Prophecy Is Deep Lore Presented as Main Story

For the vast majority of people who have not read the near biblical tome that is Dune (a daunting task for even the most devoted of Herbert fans), their introduction to and understanding of the franchise is the two films, which are heavily focussed on the rise of Paul Atreides as the savior of the Fremen. It would be fair to say, given the popularity of Timothy Chalamet, that many consider Dune in general about Paul Atreides and thus that is the story audiences care about.

The Bene Gesesrit, the organization of priestess-like women who guide the fate of the universe behind the scenes, does play a part in that story in the films but it is hardly a focus and it’s definitely not something that triggers an immediate desire to learn more about. No, the “sisterhood” feels more like important lore than expanded universe content when watching the films. Yet, WB has chosen to focus in on this with their first dive into more content without any understanding of the fact that very few people are attached.

The series, throughout its run, presents the Bene Gesserit as a storyline we should already care about and understand despite the only surface-level rundown we receive of them in the films. The show throws us into a world that assumes we are already deeply embedded into it despite the impossibility of that unless one is a fan of the books. It treats the Bene Gesserit like the Jedi order, except Jedis are part of modern popular culture as a whole whereas the Bene Gesserit are… not. It isn’t just the Bene Gesserit, though. The entire world that Dune takes place in is treated as a known entity through the show’s six episodes as if we’ve all spent the last 40 years coming to know the incredibly complex governmental systems that Dune plays in. You can’t deliver political intrigue if no one understands or cares about the stakes but aside from a few personal storylines, that is exactly what Dune: Prophecy tries to do.

Dune: Prophecy Isn’t Connected to the Dune Films

For many who are tuning in, the show will seem to pick up out of nowhere since it is only connected to the films in the most tangentially possible ways. Set 10,000 years before the films the only connection to Paul Atreides and the characters audiences have seen in the movies is that the series partially concerns itself with the genetic breeding of the sisterhood that leads to the birth of Paul. This througline, however, is so loosely presented in both the films that anyone who casually watches wouldn’t pick the threads up all that easily. The assumption that audiences are this deep into the lore of Dune leads an entire series to introduce an entirely new cast of characters with such a tenuous connection to the storyline people are actually engaged with.

That 10,000-year gap is prolifically large, though society doesn’t seem to have changed much in that period. It oddly feels like this series is set only a few years before the films given the politics and design of the universe seem to be exactly the same. That makes if feel even more confusing as to why House Harkenen isn’t the same as the films or who this new collection of Bene Gesserit sisters is. The show presents this new cast as if we should already be deeply involved with them and their goals but the Dune franchise hasn’t built that kind of world yet, it’s only told a very focused story.

This isn’t to say that the series isn’t intriguing in and of itself or that an adaptation of Sisterhood of Dune isn’t a good idea in general. However, when even the biggest fans of Hebert’s novels glance somewhat askance at the continuation novels his son wrote it begs the question of why WB thought diving deep into an almost entirely disconnected storyline was a good idea. Telling deep lore stories isn’t bad but telling them when you’ve scarcely built the world that lore is supposed to build just delivers a show that feels disconnected from the whole.

This may be why audiences and critics have had trouble connecting with Dune: Prophecy, with many finding it boring or impenetrable despite stunning visuals, a great cast, and, for those willing to engage, a compelling story. The issue is that the show simply assumes we all care but the franchise hasn’t been built to let us.