Posted in: streaming, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, books, cable, denis villeneuve, dune, dune the sisterhood, frank herbery, novels, streaming, television, tv, warnermedia
"Dune: The Sisterhood": WarnerMedia Developing Frank Herbert Series; Denis Villeneuve to Direct Pilot
As the battle of streaming services rages on, WarnerMedia has been making headlines both with policy and programming – and that headline-making continues with news that the streamer has given a straight-to-series order to Dune: The Sisterhood, based on author Frank Herbert's classic literary series Dune and stemming from Legendary Television. Dune: The Sisterhood is meant to compliment and coincide with director Denis Villeneuve's feature film adaptation from Warner Bros. – in fact, Villeneuve is set to direct the pilot episode with feature film co-writer Jon Spaihts aboard to write the series.
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. 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."
– Denis Villeneuve
Villeneuve and Spaihts are set to 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.
WarnerMedia's Dune: The Sisterhood is the most recent addition to the upcoming streaming service. The streamer has also given greenlights to drama Tokyo Vice, with Ansel Elgort; romantic comedy Love Life, starring and executive produced by Anna Kendrick; and a Gremlins animated series.