Emily Watson on Playing a ‘Badass’ in ‘Dune: Prophecy,’ Getting Inspired by Alec Guinness in ‘Star Wars’ and Plans for Season 2

Brent Lang

14 November 2024 at 9:41 am·6-min read

To prepare for her starring role in “Dune Prophecy,” a sci-fi series set thousands of years in the future, Emily Watson turned to the Tudor dynasty. She spent hours at London’s National Portrait Gallery looking at paintings of Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and Anne Boleyn, women who, at least for a time, learned to successfully navigate a society dominated by men.

“It’s amazing to gaze at these portraits of these quietly powerful, terrifying women,” Watson says, during an interview at HBO’s Hudson Yards offices last month. “They don’t give too much away — they’re sort of ciphers, which gives them this sense of control. And you think about how they were surrounded by intrigue while living in this incredibly brutal, paranoid police state. Everybody in their life either wanted to kill them or or marry them.”

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In many cases, both fates awaited them. The women in the paintings Watson viewed were married off, and, after getting out-maneuvered in an endless game of thrones, found themselves on the wrong end of the executioner’s ax. And though the world of “Dune” — with its interplanetary travel and advanced weaponry — bares little physical resemblance to the one where Henry VIII and his relatives, wives and progeny fought and feuded, there are unmistakable similarities. Namely, the way that Watson’s character Valya Harkonnen, the leader of a religious order known as the Sisterhood, must stroke the egos and manipulate the ambitions and fears of the men who lead the royal factions and fiefdoms that dominate this futuristic universe.

“The women that were playing aren’t forward-thinking feminist icons,” Watson says. “They’re messed up. They’re the products of this abusive system, and they’ve learned, like an Elizabeth or a Mary, that their power comes from having a veil of unknowability. Despite the science-fiction elements, there’s a texture of ancientness to the whole story.”

To that end, Watson leaned on her stage experience as a Royal Shakespeare Company member to help her develop Valya’s speaking style. There was something about that kind of acting that she felt would help her capture the military precision with which Valya dispenses threats or utters pronouncements. “There’s a slight theatricality to this type of acting,” Watson says.

She also thought about how another classically trained performer, Alec Guinness, approached his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars” when he found himself acting in a fantastical setting. “He made that dialogue sound like Shakespeare, and because he did that it allowed him to have this understated, quiet, commanding presence. That’s how I found my way into this, because if you don’t take on the lines with a kind of meticulousness, they can be very elusive.”

Watson, a two-time Oscar nominee who has appeared in the likes of “Breaking the Waves” and “Punch Drunk Love,” is the biggest name in the sprawling ensemble of “Dune: Prophecy.” But, of course, with these type of projects, the IP is the star. Frank Herbert’s novels — originally published in the 1960s — which depict an interstellar society, have sold millions of copies, inspired TV shows and video games, and, most recently, two hit movies. But Watson wasn’t overly familiar with all things Arrakis before she took the gig.

“It’s a universe that I wasn’t particularly aware of, but what a rich territory for acting,” she says. “There’s a lot to sink your teeth into.”

Valya was utterly unlike the kinds of roles that Watson is usually offered. She’s played an assortment of dreamers (“Breaking the Waves”), working class heroines (“Angela’s Ashes”), artists (“Hillary and Jackie”), and scientists (“Chernobyl”) across a wide-range of projects. But most of these characters follow a moral compass that probably wouldn’t lead Valya to the kind of influence and authority she hopes to achieve.

“It’s quite a departure for me to play somebody this badass,” Watson says, leaning back in her chair as she takes a moment to savor the change-of-pace. “Valya is really strong, driven, kind of manipulative, and very smart and clever. She is always one step ahead. But she’s good at letting other people think that they are the ones pulling the strings when she’s controlling the narrative. It’s kind of a dark art that she practices.”

“Dune: Prophecy” is set eons before the two “Dune” films, and serves as an origin story for the Bene Gesserit, the order of religious figures whose superhuman abilities make them among the most powerful forces in the universe. When the show opens, Valya and her sister, Tula (Olivia Williams), are leading this sect, also called the Sisterhood, as they hope to sway the behavior of the powerful noble families who rule over the galaxy. But they have yet to achieve the elevated status that they enjoy in the movies. As the show starts, their tenuous position is threatened by Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a charismatic soldier with his own magical gifts, who commands the ear of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong). In their quest to regain the upper hand and strengthen the Sisterhood’s control of Corrino, Valya and Tula are willing to lie, kill, and resort to any and every means to get their way. Though “Dune: Prophecy” has the scale and scope of a comic book adventure or action epic, it unfolds across a much murkier ethical landscape.

“Nobody comes out of it smelling like roses,” Watson says. “It’s a very complex, amoral place, where everybody has their own agenda.”

The spare-no-expense experience of “Dune: Prophecy” — particularly, the lavish, globe-hopping media tour that’s preceding its debut on HBO and Max on Nov. 17 — was a novel one for Watson, who has mostly appeared in indie films. Now, she’s front-and-center on the billboards that blanket cities like New York touting the show and dominating the onslaught of trailers that herald its imminent arrival. She even attended Comic-Con for the first time where she was overwhelmed by the size and enthusiasm of the crowds.

“With most things I’ve done, if they’ve kind of reached a critical mass of attention, it’s only been after they started off smaller,” Watson says. “They were very loved and that helped them grow. Whereas with this it just sort of is a phenomenon from the beginning. And that’s all thanks to these armies of people who are making it happen. I keep having to check in with myself and go, ‘it’s ok to still be yourself.'”

If “Dune: Prophecy” is a hit, Watson may find her services are required beyond the show’s initial six-episode run. But she seems hesitant about talking about any future seasons, clearly worried she might jinx its prospects.

“Obviously that’s the goal — to have the whole thing carry on,” she says haltingly. “I had a blast doing this, and I would love to do more. But you just don’t know, until it’s quite close to the wire. That’s the actor’s life. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

For now, Watson’s done her part. The rest is out of her control. “Robert Altman once told me that making a movie is like making a sand castle on the beach,” she says. “You sit back in a deck chair and have a beer and watch the tide take it away. You have to be zen about it.”

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