Franchise roots explored ahead of Season 2

(This story contains major spoilers from Dune: Prophecy end of season.)

The hierarchy of Dune the universe just changed.

No, Rock was nowhere to be found in the season finale of HBO’s Dune: Prophecy. Instead, it’s another rock that takes center stage: Arrakis, the desert planet at the heart of Frank Herbert’s novels on which the show is based.

While referenced throughout its first six-episode season, Dune: Prophecy actually avoided bringing Arrakis to life on screen, save for some brief (but important) holographic flashes. Now it’s all good and on full display thanks to the finale’s final scene. The spicy world of Arraks is officially on the map, ready for exploration in the recently announced season two.

At a press conference last week, Dune: Prophecy showrunner Alison Schapker said the change in scenery was decided after “a season of Arrakis exerting its allure from afar, and whether it’s in the economy of spice, trade, or the psychological aspects of these visions and nightmares that are kind of imagery of Arrakis and Desmond’s past seeps into everyone’s consciousness.

“(We’re actually going) and putting boots on the ground in this incredibly overdetermined and almost mythical dune area that we know very well, but we kept it at a distance all season,” Schapker added of the choice.

Schapker refers to Desmond Hart, Travis Fimmel’s intense Imperial loyalist and sworn enemy of the evolving Bene Gesserit, who displays literal and figurative firepower throughout Season 1. Hart’s powers come at least in part from his time spent on Arrakis, where he was swallowed whole by a sandworm, only to emerge with new abilities. Now Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) has touched down on Arrakis to learn more about Hart’s roots.

“I think it’s very important that Valya is back there,” Schapker said. “She’s kind of back at Desmond’s origin where he showed up with a story and a myth: ‘I’m from Arrakis and I was swallowed by a worm and I survived after my whole regiment was killed.’ All I’m going to say is that I think Valya is there … to find out a lot more since she’s back, where Desmond kind of showed up as an adversary. And (it’s going to be) interesting to see what she finds out there.”

But Desmond is not just Valya’s adversary; he is also her nephew. In the penultimate section, Dune: Prophecy revealed that Desmond is the product of a love affair between an Atreides and Valya’s Harkonnen sister Tula, played by Olivia Williams. Houses Atreides and Harkonnen are sworn enemies by the time Denis Villenueve’s film explores the story of Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides – who, spoiler alert, is also half-Harkonnen.

Does this mean that Desmond is a chosen one 10,000 years before Paul’s time? That’s a question Valya hopes to answer, with some familiar faces in tow: Keiran Atreides and Princess Ynez, played by Chris Mason and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, respectively.

“The Atreides have been there, but he might have been here once before when he was training or something,” Mason informed The Hollywood Reporter about what he hopes for from Keiran’s story in season two. “It’s really exciting to see where it goes now.”

Among the possible directions a second season could take is not only delving into the story of Arrakis, but also tackling a burgeoning civil war in Valya’s sisterhood, as well as the fallout from the assassination of the Emperor (played by Mark Strong).

How will Valya, Keiran and Ynez deal with all these deadly developments? We have to wait a little longer for the answers. But at least we know the answers will come in season two.

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Dune: Prophecy now streaming on Max.