‘Dune: Prophecy’ Episode 1 Review: We Learn About the Sisterhood, and the One With Control Issues

HBO's new "Dune" series from Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker kicks off with a 66-minute premiere episode.

Building a genre series from scratch is tough. Millions of devoted fans and detailed source material can’t guarantee an audience for shows like “Game of Thrones” or “The Rings of Power” — or for their new cousin, “Dune: Prophecy.”

Developed by Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker, this prequel to Denis Villenueve’s “Dune” film series doesn’t require watching either movie. As established in Episode 1, “The Hidden Hand,” written by Ademu-John and directed by Anna Foerster, these events took place more than 10,000 years before Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya found themselves on the planet Arrakis, focused on the mysterious Sisterhood known as the Bene-Gesserit.

Episode 1 is tasked with dense exposition. In the century after mankind defeated technology (“thinking machines”), Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden) joins the Sisterhood, a group of “women unafraid of their power.” The Sisters are truthsayers, assigned to powerful houses, and Valya soon becomes a favorite of Mother Superior, Raquella (Cathy Tyson). After Raquella shares a vision on her deathbed, Valya tasks herself and the others with putting a Sister on the throne to ensure their safety in the years to come.

After the exegesis, “The Hidden Hand” is fairly straightforward. We learn that 30 years later, Valya (Emily Watson) leads the Sisters while they are on the cusp of a marital alliance critical to Raquella’s master plan. Ynez Corrino (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) will marry Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) — a nine-year-old boy — and then spend 10 years with the Sisters while her husband comes of age. Sister Kasha (Jihae) has a nightmare vision and starts to fear that the match may bring about the very destruction the Sisters want to avoid.

The episode title refers to the Sisterhood at large but also to Valya herself, quickly established as a steely control freak. In her youth, she vibrated with blind purpose (which Barden embodies to excellent effect); as an adult (Emily Watson) she gives the impression that she could still turn on a dime and command someone to slit their own throat. As Valya’s dismissal of Kasha demonstrates, she’s eager to cut those loose who won’t follow her exact instructions (Olivia Williams’ Tula says as much).

While “The Hidden Hand” is clear once it gets going, the prologue establishes a clunky momentum that doesn’t quite propel the episode through its 66-minute runtime. Foerster is smart to not opt for flashy set pieces, battles, or worms; she opts for quiet scenes about character machinations, with a haunting final sequence. Watson and Williams form a solid foundation for the Sisterhood, and for the series; less so for the rest of the cast as they try to establish themselves in just a few scenes.

Those final scenes get the job done in setting up a major cliffhanger and inviting audiences to return next Sunday (no hard feelings to those turned away by graphic child murder). Something is afoul in the Imperium, with more than just the Sisters’ hidden hands working behind the scenes to control it all. In the final moments, a barely fazed Valya says “I see, Mother.” What does she see? Was this the plan all along?

Grains of Sand:

• Shoutout to Yerin Ha and Charithra Chandran in that flashback sequence — the “Bridgerton” to “Dune” pipeline (actually reversed for Ha) is strong!
• We don’t know much about them yet, but I’m very excited to watch the performances and actions of the younger sisters in Watson’s timeline and how Nez will fit in with them.
• Speaking of Nez, did she and Constantine (Josh Heuston) do space cocaine? Or is it just “spice” in this universe?
• It does little for the narrative, but I enjoyed the space club. Who says club culture is dead? It’s thriving in the imagined future.
• Sorry to Pruwet that technology is forbidden, because his little robot lizard thingie is very cute.
• As with “Game of Thrones,” beware of anyone whose eyes are too blue.
• Is Indian superstar Tabu in this episode? No. She will play the older version of Chandran’s Sister in due course.

Grade: C+

“Dune: Prophecy” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.