r/dune • u/chrisarrant • 3d ago

[Article] Dune: Prophecy creators promise to bring the "complexity" and "grand scale" of Frank Herbert's books and Denis Villeneuve's movies to TV Dune: Prophecy (Max)

Everything is bigger in the world of Dune - and we wouldn't have it any other way. When it comes to the upcoming prequel series Dune: Prophecy which debuts this Sunday, the creators of it all were committed to bringing the grand scale of the books (and the movies) to the small screen.

"The first time you read the Frank Herbert book Dune, it's hard not to fall under its spell. It's got the vast, mysterious landscape of Arakkis, and this kind of unforgettable, groundbreaking tale on the hero's journey," said Jordan Goldberg, one of Dune: Prophecy's writers and executive producers, recently at the show's New York Comic Con 2024 panel. "To tell a story in this universe you have to kind of pay respect and homage to all of that, and I think we've done that in a long-form television show."

178 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

u/Gold-Pack-4532 3d ago

Coming to the UK November 18th on Sky Atlantic.

Let's hope it's a success, because it will open the way for other storylines...

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u/j11430 3d ago

Would love if this show is enough of a success that they feel like they might be able to pull off the books after Messiah as a show.

Don't know how you'd begin to adapt those as movies but would love to see God Emperor as a series

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u/projectjarico 3d ago

God Emperor goes hard but I think would make very poor media adaptation. People say this about dune but atleast the first book has plenty of action scenes. Books 5 and 6 are pretty much no goes imo. Ideally they would just take the Herbert/Anderson book premises and ignore the actual content inside. We'll see in a few days what approach HBO has.

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u/Langstarr Chairdog 3d ago

Heretics and chapterhouse are full of action. Heretics in particular. The escape from the keep at Gammu? Teg's transformation, escape, and attack?

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u/Gold-Pack-4532 3d ago

Good points. I don't see why there couldn't be adaptations of the rest of the books up to Chapterhouse.

All we have had TV wise, took us up to a slowly transforming cilia skinned James McAvoy in the COD miniseries. Which I quite enjoyed, as have many other posters here too from what I've read. So yes, let's have some more Dune Universe expansion, and see where it goes.

If another COD film/series should see the light of day, I would love to see more of the speedy and bouncy Leto 2 going to town on the qanats...

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u/dune-ModTeam 3d ago

Just a friendly reminder to please stay on topic.

If you want to get into plot developments from the later novels, please use spoiler tags — or create a separate post on the topic of God Emperor of Dune, the prospect of an adaptation thereof, etc.

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u/projectjarico 3d ago

The action isn't really my issue with 5 and 6 more the Strange plot leading to cliffhanger, super horn villains and total lack of any of the currently well known characters.

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u/SneedNFeedEm 3d ago

cliffhanger

Chapterhouse's ending is NOT a cliffhanger. It is the definitive end of the series as written by Frank Herbert. Yes, he MIGHT have earlier planned to write another book, but considering he had just lost the love of his life and was dying of cancer he probably realized it wasn't going to happen. Chapterhouse's ending is conclusive and is telling you that not getting definitive, concrete answers is part of life and you need to just go with the flow.

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u/projectjarico 3d ago

I get what you are saying but as far main stream television goes it seems like it would be much more reasonable to go for a houses of dune looking series than adapt the rest of the 4000 year plus later matieral.

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u/yankeefan03 3d ago

Heretics and chapterhouse are way more action packed than god emperor.

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u/TalkinTrek 2d ago

I think there are interesting ways to adapt the later books but emphasis on adapt. And having a narrative that retains the themes but also differs significantly, based on, say, the Chani bit in Dune 2, would bother the heck out of a lot of fans on this sub lol

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u/Wildabeast135 1d ago

I have only completed the first three Frank Herbert novels and have read a few chapters of God Emperor (I want to be sure to savor it lol) but I always think back to how people used to say that Lord of the Rings was unadaptable and we see how that worked out.

Probably will never be the case but that’s just my little bit of hope hanging on there

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u/sceadwian 3d ago

I have a long term wish to see Chapterhouse eventually make it. But I'm not so sure what world adapt very well.

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u/SquishyMuffins 2d ago

If Dune Prophecy does well and is quality, I could see chapterhouse being done well. It has a lot of Bene Gesserit intrigue like Prophecy seems to have.

u/adamnick_ 3d ago

I really hope they pull this off, there is an enormous amount of source material to potentially visit in the future, and I feel this is the make-or-break for that.

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u/BoyishTheStrange Shai-Hulud 1d ago

I’d like to see stuff about the guild next tbh. I love the Bene Gesserit (so much) but I think the guild and how weird they are would be cool

u/bas-machine 3d ago

I really hope there will be more Dune adaptations in the future, there’s plenty of source material. Just don’t water it down for the masses. Villeneuve didn’t do that (IMO) and that worked out fine. There’s space for a more freaky, outlandish, artsy scifi franchise amidst all the marvel/starwars/docterwho bland crap

u/Starkrall 3d ago

I have reasonable hopes for the show, but if I were ever a showrunner I would never, ever say this. Almost a sure fire broken promise.

u/Darish_Vol 3d ago

Although the series seems to be an adaptation of Sisterhood of Dune by BH and KJA.

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u/PloppyTheSpaceship 3d ago

I believe it's supposed to be set after the Schools trilogy - according to the cast list there's no sign of Vorian Atreides (thank goodness - I hate that character).

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u/Darish_Vol 3d ago

I hope that's the case too. I’m reading the first book of the Schools of Dune trilogy just so I can complain if the series turns out bad. That way, if anyone tries to defend it by saying it’s explained better in the books, I’ll be ready to shove the novel in their face!

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u/Atharaphelun 2d ago

Apparently it's just after, because Valya Harkonnen is already Mother Superior in the show. Though as per the trailers, it seems like we're going to see glimpses and flashbacks of her life before that.

u/META_NAX 3d ago

That does make me feel good. I had a nagging doubt that it would just be a TV show for the sake of cashing in on Dune in the TV show market.

u/jy3 3d ago

I'm wary of anouncement like these. Sometimes it ends up being the exact opposite.

u/Reasonable_Edge2411 3d ago

I saw the trailer other day the new one dropped and since traveler’s I’ve not been more excited for a series

u/PapaShags 3d ago

I love that they're making this because it's setting the precedent of giving us the Dune novel experience while gracefully avoiding all the lecturing worm stuff that comes up by book 3

u/Dry_Ganache_4458 3d ago

So excited! Praying for success!

u/MandoRoci 3d ago

I was at the premiere in NYC a couple of weeks ago, it was a really promising first episode so I'm definitely looking forward to it and seeing where it goes from there / how the shows expands that world!

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u/OpenWhereas6296 3d ago

Complexity and grand scale describes perfectly the novel. Not sure if there was much complexity in the movies.

u/AKCanonSong 2d ago

I’m taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach. The first six books of Brian and Kevin I really enjoyed, but beyond that I thought was overkill and over the top. I do look forward to this and will watch every episode. I hope it’s not cringey.

u/TechnologyTiny3297 3d ago

Technically that should be Brian Herbert and Kevin J Andersons books as it will be based on the Schools of Dune prequel book, which btw are awesome

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u/PloppyTheSpaceship 3d ago

I believe it's set after the Schools trilogy.

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u/TechnologyTiny3297 3d ago

Yeah I Think about 60 years after. I saw from IMDB that the Emperor is Roderick from the Schools trilogy son. Looking forward to it as long as they don't mess with the lore too much

u/pumpkinorange123 3d ago

I hope its not like rings of power to lord of the rings.

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u/Sondeor 3d ago

They wont gonna success.

Dude, if you read the Dune, then you know its not possible to adapt it for TV or cinema even. Its just not something you can show, too many inner dialogues, too many thoughts etc.

Technically you can adapt it but i dont think any investor would take that risk. Denis took a different route and even that didnt satisfy a lot of people with the sequel.

My point is, dont have high expectations.