Quick LinksThe Battle That Divided Two Great Houses in 'Dune: Prophecy' Valya Harkonnen Carries Her Family's Vengeance House Atreides Remains a Thorn in House Harkonnen's Side
The world is preparing to return to the Dune universe as it expands in the spin-off series Dune: Prophecy. The series is set 10,000 years before the events of Dune and the birth of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and aims to tell the origins of the Bene Gesserit order. Adapted from Frank Herbert's novels, Denis Villeneuve's film explores the story of the Kwisatz Haderach, a super being whose purpose is to guide humanity to a better path or paradise. This being has been sought-after by the sisterhood and has been 10,000 years in the making as they've carefully crossed bloodlines to bring about this Messiah and, despite the planning and the intervention of Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), this male Reverend Mother arrives a generation earlier than expected, thwarting the careful planning of the Bene Gesserit.
✕ Remove Ads
Not only will audiences see the politics behind the Bene Gesserit, but they will also learn more about the feud between House Harkonnen and House Atreides. Set almost 100 years after the end of the Butlerian Jihad (Great Machine Wars), a battle between humanity and artificial intelligence, the series follows the Harkonnen sisters, Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula (Olivia Williams) Harkonnen, on this quest of vengeance and retaliation against House Atreides to restore their family's reputation within the Imperium. The conflict between these two great houses spans 10,000 years, and the fans are excited to see this conflict play out and dive deeper into the lore of Dune.
Dune: Prophecy TV-MASci-FiAdventureFantasyDrama Release Date November 17, 2024 Main Genre Sci-Fi Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) HBO Max Franchise(s) Dune Directors Anna Foerster Expand ✕ Remove Ads The Battle That Divided Two Great Houses in 'Dune: Prophecy' Close
Dune: Prophecy is adapting the source material pulled from the novels Sisterhood of Dune, Mentats of Dune, and Navigators of Dune. Valya and Tula Harkonnen are high-ranking reverend mothers, and they run a school for women entering the order of the Bene Gesserit. At this point in the timeline, House Harkonnen has fallen from grace and has a low standing among the other great houses in the Imperium. This fall was a result of one of its earliest members, Abulurd Harkonnen, who was deemed a traitor for his refusal to sacrifice nearly two million lives during one of the Butlerian Jihad's key battles. This is where House Atreides comes into play, as the command Abulurd ignored came from his superior, Vorian Atreides.
✕ Remove Ads
As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished, a hard lesson that Abulurd learned in his attempt to save innocent lives. In this attempt, he disabled weaponry in the human fleets and, unfortunately, endangered more lives and resulted in even more casualties. After this catastrophic chain of events, it was Vorian who branded Abulurd a traitor and banished House Harkonnen to Lankiveil, an ice planet. This lit the fuse of rage in House Harkonnen towards the Atreides family and vice versa, and, as fans have seen, has lasted for 10 millennia. The present-day in this series picks up with the Harkonnen planning their grand return to greatness and plotting to destroy House Atreides in the process by ending their bloodline.
Valya Harkonnen Carries Her Family's Vengeance Close ✕ Remove Ads
Following the betrayal, as the Harkonnen family sees it, of Vorian Atreides, they accepted their banishment to Lankiveil and kept to themselves. Morally, Abulurd's intention to save lives was good, but his failure to see the bigger repercussions cost his house greatly, and the future generations of House Harkonnen would also feel the effects of his actions. The family lived in isolation and very poor conditions compared to when Dune fans saw House Harkonnen in a position of grandeur and power when Baron Vladimir (Stellan Skarsgård) was the head of the family. As the majority of the family welcomes their fate, there's one among them who's willing to stand up for the family and challenge the Atreides.
Related 'Dune: Prophecy' Showrunner Addresses All Those 'Game of Thrones' Comparisons
'Dune: Prophecy' showrunner Alison Schapker has seen all of the comparisons to 'Game of Thrones' and addresses them.
✕ Remove Ads
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Valya is a woman scorned. She always understood that House Atreides was responsible for her family's downfall and the hypocrisy on Vorian's part. She perpetuates the hatred for House Atreides and enlists her siblings, Griffin and Tula, to help her annihilate House Atreides. Valya is essentially the person who sets this feud in motion and the events that will take place 10,000 years later. As she trained to challenge Vorian, she simultaneously dedicated herself to building the Sisterhood of Rossak, which would later be known as the powerful order of the Bene Gesserit.
House Atreides Remains a Thorn in House Harkonnen's Side Close ✕ Remove Ads
Valya Harkonnen is the woman who started it all. The show's premise is to tell the origin story of the Bene Gesserit order and how it became the most influential group of women in the Imperium. The sisterhood has members serving each of the great houses as a way to steer the politics of the universe from the shadows, and they've also influenced the bloodlines of the great houses for generations in the hopes of bringing the chosen one forth and placing him on the Imperial Throne. If they control the bloodlines, they can control the Kwisatz Haderach as he controls humanity.
Related Denis Villeneuve Fires Back At Quentin Tarantino After Dune Criticism
Villeneuve argues that he and Tarantino "are very different human beings."
✕ Remove Ads
The existence of Paul Atreides circumvents Valya's efforts to control the Kwisatz Haderach and ensure that the bloodlines of House Harkonnen and House Atreides never cross. As fans discovered in Dune: Part Two, Paul is of Harkonnen and Atreides descent, a union that the Mother Superior would have prevented at all costs. In the end, a descendant of both houses dissolved the efforts of the Bene Gesserit and ended their calculated manipulations. Dune: Prophecy is streaming on November 17 on Max.
✕ Remove Ads