Posted in: HBO, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: dune, dune the sisterhood, frank herbert, hbo max, preview

Dune: The Sisterhood – Johan Renck to Direct Prequel's First 2 Eps

Published Wed, 27 Apr 2022 15:28:12 -0500

Some excellent news to report on the streaming series front when it comes to the upcoming prequel series spinoff from Denis Villeneuve's Dune feature film. Johan Renck (Chernobyl, Breaking Bad) has been tapped to direct the first two episodes of HBO Max's Dune: The Sisterhood (with Villeneuve needing to step aside from directing the pilot due to his commitments to the film sequel). In July 2021, Diane Ademu-John (Empire, The Haunting of Bly Manor) joined the streaming series as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Jon Spaihts was originally set to run point on the series but stepped away from the project in November 2019 to focus on the film adaptations.

Frank Herbert's Dune portrays a future in which humanity has spread across the galaxy to thousands of worlds, all ruled by the Padishah Emperor, The Imperium. The prequel series Dune: The Sisterhood explores this universe through the eyes of a mysterious order of women: 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. "The Bene Gesserit have always been fascinating to me. Focusing a series around that powerful order of women seemed not only relevant and inspiring but a dynamic setting for the television series," said Villeneuve when the project was first announced back in 2019.

Villeneuve and Spaihts executive produce alongside Frank's son Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert on behalf of the Frank Herbert estate, with Kevin J Anderson co-producing. Similar to what is currently being done with The Purge franchise, Legendary Television's multimedia plans for Dune include video games, digital content packages, and comic book series. Herbert's Dune book series consists of twenty books to date, with Herbert authoring the first six books and the remainder of the series written by Brian Herbert, along with Anderson.

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