Dune Prequel Series Starting Production Very Soon

By Jenna Anderson

After a smash success with its film adaptation last year, Warner Bros. Discovery is going all-in on the Dune franchise. Not only is a sequel currently in production, but the franchise will be expanding into an HBO Max-exclusive series, tentatively titled Dune: The Sisterhood. The show was originally ordered to series in 2019, and will be set 10,000 years before the events of Dune, and will be based on Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's spinoff novel Sisterhood of Dune. The series is beginning to get some confirmed cast members — and it sounds like they will begin production on the show very soon. A Friday, a new report revealed that filming for Dune: The Sisterhood will begin sometime in November in Budapest, Hungary, alongside the ongoing production of Dune: Part Two. 

Dune: the Sisterhood will star Emily Watson (Chernobyl, Hilary and Jackie), Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), and Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi). Diane Ademu-John serves as creator, writer, co-showrunner and executive producer. Alison Schapker is co-showrunner and executive producer. Emmy-winner Johan Renck will direct the first two episodes and executive-produce.

What is Dune: The Sisterhood about?

Dune: The Sisterhood has been previously described as being told through the eyes of a mysterious order of women known as the Bene Gesserit. Given extraordinary abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the enigmatic planet Arrakis, known to its inhabitants as Dune. It will serve as a prequel to the films. The series will be written by returning franchise writer Jon Spaihts, with Diane Ademu-John as showrunner, and Johan Renck as the director of the first two episodes.

"Oh, that is carrying on and I'm not allowed to talk about it very much," Spaihts previously said during an interview with The Playlist. "But that effort is alive and well. I ended up getting moved off of it to work, not just on Dune: Part Two, but to investigate other cinematic prospects in the Dune universe, which we are still talking about and which, again, I'm not allowed to say very much about. But it is a very rich world in which to play, and I think it is ripe with opportunities for storytelling in every direction. They're well down the road, but I honestly don't know the details of the timing."

Are you excited for Dune: The Sisterhood? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

h/t: Deadline

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