The Dune: The Sisterhood series is moving forward at HBO Max! The show that centers around the origin of the Bene Gesserit already had writer and co-showrunner Diane Ademu-John attached (with Alison Schapker as the other showrunner), and now also has two actors lined up for leading roles.
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Deadline broke the news that Emily Watson (Chernobyl, God’s Creatures) and Shirley Henderson (a.k.a. Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter) will play Valya Harkonnen and Tula Harkonnen respectively. Valya and Tula are sisters and the two leads of the show, which takes place 10,000 years before the events of Dune. According to Deadline, the two will “combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit.”
Valya and Tula are two characters from the novel Sisterhood of Dune, a prequel to Frank Herbert’s Dune written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, who are also executive producers on the Legendary TV-produced series. In that book, Valya was the second Reverend Mother Superior (a.k.a. leader) of the Bene Gesserit, and had her sister do some not-so-great things to House Atreides members.
The series has been in the works since at least 2019, and has seen some shifts in the creative team involved after John Spaihts left the production to write the sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (pictured above). With this casting news, however, it looks like the production is moving forward. No news yet on when it will go into production, much less premiere on the streaming platform.
