Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood prequel series is reportedly resuming filming very soon, even as a number of projects are being shut down by the newly-launched SAG-AFTRA strike. According to a new report, Dune: The Sisterhood will be resuming production in Budapest “any day now”, after a pre-planned hiatus to account for the winter conditions in Hungary.
Dune: The Sisterhood joins HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon and Industry in continuing to film amid the strike, due to the fact that their productions almost-exclusively consist of Equity contract actors, with some SAG-AFTRA members in the mix. According to the guidelines released by SAG-AFTRA on Thursday, union members working under Equity contracts don’t need to stop production at this time.
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What Is Happening with Dune: The Sisterhood?
Back in February, reports indicated that the live-action series had lost Henderson, as well as the director of the first two episodes, Johan Renck. The series has been expected to undergo a hiatus amid these changes, with reports at the time indicating that the delay could be up to seven months. These exits occurred after the exit of showrunner Diane Ademu-John, who left the series right before it began production in late November, which reportedly led to major rewrites. According to reports, Renck’s directing style also did not line up with Max’s vision for the show, and was seen as a “departure” from the style of Denis Villeneuve’s films. It was also recently reported that The Crown star Olivia Williams and The Witcher‘s Jodhi May have joined the series, which is currently operating under the working title of Dune: The Sisterhood. Williams will be portraying the role of Tula Harkonnen, after Shirley Henderson stepped away from the part in February of this year. May, meanwhile, will replacing Game of Thrones and Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi star Indira Varma, who was cast as Empress Natalya, but has reportedly stepped away from the part due to a scheduling conflict.
“As Dune: The Sisterhood (wt) has entered a pre-scheduled hiatus, there are some creative changes being made to the production in an effort to create the best series possible and stay true to the source material,” an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement. “Johan Renck has completed his work on the series and a new director will be brought on; through mutual agreement, Johan is moving on to pursue other projects. Additionally, Shirley Henderson will be exiting the series and will no longer be playing Tula Harkonnen.”
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. Members of the cast will also include Emily Watson as Valya Harkonnen; Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Princess Ynez; Shalom Brune Franklin as Mikaela; Faoileann Cunningham as Sister Jen; Aoife Hinds as Sister Emeline; Chloe Lea as Lila; Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart; Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco Corrino; Jade Anouka as Sister Theodosia; Chris Mason as Keiran Atreides.
“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.”
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h/t: Deadline
