TV Review: ‘Dune: Prophecy’ Has An Interesting But Confusing Timeline

It seems as if HBO and Max are in a golden age of television spinoffs based on their film properties. Peacemaker derives from The Suicide Squad and The Penguin from The Batman. Now, Dune: Prophecy is spinning off from the Dune films, which are set to have more installments in the future. But whereas those other shows were sequels, Dune Prophecy is set before the events of its associated film. It carries a lot of the same elements from the Denis Villeneuve duology — namely the technology, the planets, and even the various ruling houses. But the timeline throws a confusing wrench into the mix as it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. But even given that odd detail, there’s still a lot to enjoy.

Ten thousand years before the birth of Paul Atreides (Timotheé Chalamet) , humanity’s war against the machines is still a recent memory. The great houses, along with the Imperial family, are still trying to establish a secure status quo. The Imperial daughter, Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) is set to wed a young Duke’s son named Pruwet (Charlie Hodson-Prior). Meanwhile, a soldier named Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) arrives to give poor news about operations on Arrakis and that Fremen were not involved. This is all taking place while Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood faces a mysterious threat against her political power.

It’s still too early to see how the story will play out. There was a lot of exposition in this episode as it had to establish the timeline within the Dune universe as well as the characters and locations. But a ten thousand years gap is an incredibly long time. It’s hard to imagine that the fashion, technology, and even ruling families would stay the same for that long. Three thousand years would be a lot more believable, but having this expansive of a timeline makes it hard to fully buy into the universe. Still, the fantasy and sci-fi of the story is incredibly engrossing while ignoring that strange detail. It’s best for audiences to detach themselves from the Dune films and instead view this spin-off as its own thing.

Dune: Prophecy streams Sundays on Max.