Summary
- Dune: Prophecy delves into the origins of the Bene Gesserit 10,148 years before Paul Atreides' birth.
- The war against the Thinking Machines has a significant impact on how society operates in the series.
- Dune: Prophecy sheds more light on Thinking Machines and the Butlerian Jihad.
Dune: Prophecy takes place in the same world as Denis Villenueve’s Dune films, but it takes audiences much further back in the timeline than ever explored on-screen before. Dune: Prophecy is set shortly after the pivotal war with the Thinking Machines, which changed the landscape of the sci-fi world forever.
While Dune: Prophecy is primarily focused on exploring the origins of the sisterhood known as the Bene Gesserit, its place in the timeline opens the door for many other familiar and new concepts from Frank Herbert’s world to be explored. The series is set 10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides, and 166 years after the end of the great machine wars. While the war is no longer in effect in Dune: Prophecy the memory of the conflict is still prominent in many characters' minds.
Dune: Prophecy: Important Planets for New Fans
While the original Dune explored Arrakis, the TV spin-off will take fans and newcomers to plenty of new locations.
What are the Thinking Machines in Dune?
Thinking Machines is a term in the Dune world to essentially describe artificial intelligence. In the years before the revolution, humans created machines and became reliant upon them. However, these machines eventually advanced to the point of being sentient and began being used as a weapon to enslave others. This led to the Butlerian Jihad, which is the term used to describe the crusade against the conscious machines which took over a century. This event is what unified the great house in the Dune universe as they combined their collective religious views to be one that was simply against man being replaced by machines. The definition of what makes a machine a Thinking Machine is loose, but seemingly refers to any kind of technology that can think for itself and doesn’t require human operation.
Why are the Thinking Machines Important in Dune: Prophecy?
Humanity’s war with the Thinking Machines is something from the Dune world yet to be explored on-screen, and it’s also mostly skated over in Herbert’s novels. While Dune: Prophecy is not set during the Butlerian Jihad, it does open at a time when the universe is still adapting to this new world order. “The characters in our series exist in the shadow of a war against thinking machines and artificial intelligence, which had basically enslaved or subjugated humankind for an enormous period of time,” Dune: Prophecy showrunner Alison Schapker told Entertainment Weekly. Schapker continued on to explain that this war almost came at the expense of the human race. “There were casualties on planetary levels, and that does something to individual psyches,” she added.
The series briefly touches on what the great machine wars may looked like with an opening montage that sees a group of soldiers go up against giant AI war machines. “When humans rose up against the Thinking Machines that had enslaved them, history says it was an Atreides that led them to victory,” Valya Harkonnen’s narration reveals in the opening of Dune: Prophecy’s first episode. Following the Butlerian Jihad, all Thinking Machines were outlawed.
When humans rose up against the Thinking Machines that had enslaved them, history says it was an Atreides that led them to victory.
The characters in Dune: Prophecy make their stance against Thinking Machines clear in the first episode. After Princess Ynez, the daughter of Emperor Corrino, and nine-year-old Pruwet Richese had made their nuptials official, the wedding reception saw Pruwet reveal he owned a small robotic lizard toy. The lizard robot quickly got out of his control and scattered its way through the wedding reception until it was skewered by Desmond Hart’s knife. The reaction of the group to seeing a Thinking Machine, even one as small and seemingly harmless as the lizard toy, is immense. Corrino eventually agrees to let Pruwet’s transgression slide, but it’s clear this is a society that is still fearful of the near extinction that Thinking Machines wrought on humanity.
Thinking Machines Could Play Big Part in the Rest of Dune: Prophecy's Season
This divide over AI may be something that eventually has a bigger impact on Dune: Prophecy’s plot. The Bene Gesserit were initially divided over Valya Harkonnen’s desire to continue using the group’s breeding index, which is something that helps them determine which bloodlines should be paired together. Sister Dorotea and Valya eventually came to an impasse over this, with Dorotea imploring the breeding index be destroyed. Valya eventually murders her to prevent this from happening, which suggests perhaps that the index itself uses Thinking Machine technology. If true, this could spell great trouble for Valya and the Bene Gesserit down the line in Dune: Prophecy, as their use of AI technology, is a secret they need to guard closely.
Dune: Prophecy releases new episodes weekly on Sundays on Max.
Dune: Prophecy
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- November 17, 2024
- Cast
- Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Jodhi May, Travis Fimmel, Mark Strong, Jade Anouka, Chris Mason, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Faoileann Cunningham, Aoife Hinds, Chloe Lea, Josh Heuston, Edward Davis, Tabu, Yerin Ha
- Showrunner
- Alison Schapker
- Directors
- Anna Foerster
- Writers
- Diane Ademu-John, Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert
- Franchise(s)
- Dune
- IMDb ID
- tt10466872
- TMDB User Rating
- 0.0
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- MAX
- Creator(s)
- Diane Ademu-John, Alison Schapker
Dune: Prophecy Can Bring The 'Unfilmable' Dune Movies To Life
Dune: Prophecy has a God Emperor of Dune Easter egg, but can the TV series continue telling the story of the 'unfilmable' Dune books?