Warner Bros. Discovery is certainly follow through this year on its tell commitment to focusing more on its establish franchises and prized pieces of IP . The clapping for the studio apartment ’s firstBatmanspinoff TV series , The Penguin , has n’t even full expire down yet , and already Warner Bros. is on the verge of launching another high - visibility piece of franchise storytelling . Its latestHBOoriginal , Dune : Prophecy , hope to build on the expectation - resist achiever ofdirector Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune films by further swallow up viewers in the psychedelic top executive , chronicle , and politics ofDuneauthor Frank Herbert ’s futuristic population .
On paper , that ’s a no - brainer determination for a studio apartment like Warner Bros. , which has struggled to manage and make the most of its biggest enfranchisement . But isDune : Prophecyreally what fans ofDune : Part OneandPart Twowant ? The new serial publication , which premieres on HBO and Max this Sunday , seems to fundamentally misunderstand what make Villeneuve ’s Dune films so special , darling , and astray - reaching . The chance ofDune : Prophecyfalling catastrophically flat with looker seem , therefore , far greater than they ’ve been forThe Penguinor any other expensive opus of dealership - post TV in recent memory .
Different mediums, different priorities
As respectful as they are of Herbert ’s original novel , Denis Villeneuve ’s Dune movies are not slavishly devoted to it . As a matter of fact , the films barrel their way throughDune‘s secret plan — adopting an urgent step that is almost , peculiarly inDune : Part Two , pummeling . The movies feature many of the same narrative chemical element asDune : Prophecy , including witches who serve as human Trygve Halvden Lie sensing element and merciless feud between rival house , but Villeneuve ’s films do not spend much meter on the minutia of their bifurcated history . They utilise Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser ’s image as a shorthand to communicate the insidiousness ofDune‘s mankind — immersing looker more in the emotions , temper , and grandeur of Herbert ’s sci - fi future than the detail of his subversive , hero ’s journeying story .
Dune : Prophecyis , conversely , a cold , expo - replete deep dive into the story of its fictional human beings ’s most secretly hefty group , the Bene Gesserit . It is all about the minutia and the competing plans of its various ambitious politician . Duneuses Paul Atreides ’ graspable , deeply human desire for retaliation to drive its fib and join spectator to his journey , and one could argue that Villeneuve ’s two - part adaptation does that even more skillfully than Herbert ’s original text edition . sand dune : Prophecy‘s characters are , on the other hired hand , driven by a less relatable desire for control , so much so that the show ’s history of competing forces vying for ultimate political power results in it having less in common with Villeneuve ’s Dune movies and more in usual with an former megahit HBO series , Game of Thrones .
That remainder is not necessarily a negative thing . Dune : Prophecyisn’t as forthwith entertain asThrones , nor does it seem as interested in winning over its more casual , less music genre - obsessed spectator , but its surprising ruthlessness does give it a brutal , unpredictable bound that is its own potentially enticing selling point . Dune : Prophecyalso uses many of the same technological and architectural aim as its modern babe films , which is to say that it borrows the visual oral communication of Villeneuve ’s blockbusters . That may make it easier for witness to find like they ’ve fallen back into the world ofDune : Part OneandPart Two — even as the series fails to bring the same floor of muscular spectacle and ocular polish that Villeneuve and Fraser do in their acclaimed 2021 and 2024 films .
A smaller scope
Dune : Prophecyultimately does n’t take care nearly as in effect asDune : Part OneorPart Two . Its filming is flat and less impressive than what Fraser accomplishes in its grownup - filmdom counterparts , and the CGI starship , palace , and surroundings featured throughout the TV serial publication all look faker and artificially shinier than any you see in Villeneuve ’s moving picture . This , combined withDune : Prophecy‘s many exposition dumps and unsubtle lines of dialogue , make it feel surprisingly reminiscent of George Lucas ’ Star Wars prequels . Like those movies and the original Star Wars trilogy , Dune : Prophecyshares the same vocabulary as Villeneuve ’s Dune film , but the serial publication speaks in an exclusively unlike , more stilted cadency .
This may prove , in the end , to beDune : Prophecy‘s self-aggrandizing roadblock to ledger entry . The most alluring expression of Villeneuve ’s Dune movies is their practically unparalleled level of cinematic beauty . They are operatic , immaculately craft blockbuster overflowing with moments and image that are design to make your jaw drop cloth . As challenging as it may be , Dune : Prophecynever had any luck of twin the sheer ocular power of those films without a craftsman like Villeneuve manage its output , and so it does n’t . Without both that and the star power of actors like Timothée Chalamet , Zendaya , and Austin Butler , you have to then involve : What reason is there for daily viewers to check outDune : Prophecy ?
A risky bet
The series hope that it can hook viewers by convert the awe - inspiring spectacle of Villeneuve ’s Dune movies with a more serialized , recognisable chronicle of political gamesmanship . That may have been the only moveDune : Prophecycould have made , but it ’s one that bank on viewers having an pastime in its franchise ’s world beyond what Villeneuve and his cast brought to their Dune films . That ’s a gamble that may work , but it ’s a much bad stake than anyone at Warner Bros. or HBO seems to realize .
sand dune : Prophecypremieres Sunday , November 17 on HBO and Max .
