HBO — the linear channel, not Max — has been leaning into Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property of late, making shows like The Penguin to fill its vaunted Sunday night drama timeslot, rather than more original stories. Now comes what is essentially a prequel to the Dune films directed by Denis Villeneuve, taking place 10,000 years before the events of those films and Frank Herbert’s original novel.
Opening Shot: “Victory is celebrated in the light, but it’s won in the darkness,” as we see a photonegative image of embers flying in the sky.
The Gist:Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) narrates a history of her family, who, according to the writings in the Atreides, was banished to a remote part of the world after being branded as cowards during the war with the thinking machines. She set off and joined a society of women not afraid of their powers, where she met her mentor, Mother Superior …