The television series will take place 10,000 years before the time of Paul Atreides.
Updated 14/10/22: Game of Thrones star Indira Varma is also joining the cast.
Hot on the heels of the announcement of Dune: The Sisterhood‘s two leading ladies, news has broken that Indira Varma has also joined the show.
Deadline carries the story, revealing that Varma will play Empress Natalya, who’s described as “a formidable royal who united thousands of worlds in her marriage to Emperor Corrino.”
Of course, Indira Varma is no stranger to genre shows. She starred as Susie Costello in the first season of Torchwood – a role she’s since returned to on audio. Then there’s Ellaria Sand on Game of Thrones and, most recently, Tala Durith in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Away from science fiction, she’s enjoyed role in shows as diverse as Rome, legal drama Silk, the recent thriller The Capture and Aisling Bea’s comedy This Way Up.
Upcoming, she plays the part of an inventor in Apple TV+’s upcoming Extrapolations – a anthology series that depicts the effects of climate change. Oh, and there’s the not insignificant matter of a role in the forthcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One, landing on the big screen in July 2023.
We’ll keep you posted on Dune: The Sisterhood – which, interestingly, Deadline suggests is a working title for the show.
Original article follows…
Dune: The Sisterhood – Emily Watson and Shirley Henderson to star
The television series will take place 10,000 years before the time of Paul Atreides.
Following director Denis Villeneuve’s successful big screen adaption of Dune, progress is being made on a prequel television show. Dune: The Sisterhood is based on a 2012 novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, and set in the same universe as that of Frank Herbert’s original Dune novels.
The story follows the two Harkonnen sisters who combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit. They are the order who tested Paul Atredies before he left for Arrakis, and who are devoted to the manipulation of bloodlines. His mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), was also one of their order.
In an announcement we picked up via Deadline, we’ve learned that Emily Watson (Chernobyl) is playing Valya Harkonnen.
Meanwhile, Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter’s Moaning Myrtle, Worzel Gummidge) will portray Tula Harkonnen.
Dune: The Sisterhood comes from Diana Ademu-John (The Haunting of Bly Manor), who creates, writes and executive produces. She also serves as co-showrunner alongside Alison Schapker.
Denis Villeneuve will executive produce with Jon Spaihts, Scott Z. Burns, Matthew King, John Cameron, Cait Collins and Brian Herbert. Plus, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert who serve as executive producers for the Frank Herbert estate. HBO Max and Legendary Television are co-producing the show.
Legendary, of course, were behind the recent movie which was nominated for ten Oscars and took home six. Dune: Part Two is currently in production.
We’ll keep you posted.