Yahoo Lifestyle Your Guide to the Many Magical Women (and Men) of ‘Dune: Prophecy’
An HBO series based on a book series with dense mythology and over a dozen new characters to learn? You’re joking! If the new Dune prequel series has your head spinning the way Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon did back in the day, here is a guide to the cast and characters of Dune: Prophecy that will help you tell everyone apart.
You don’t really need to have seen Dune, Dune: Part Two, or any other adaptations of Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction series in order to follow the show...but it might help. The series takes place something like 10,000 years before Lady Jessica gave birth to Paul Atreides, the protagonist of Dune. But weirdly, it seems like not too much has changed in 10 millennia. House Harkonnen and House Atreides are both established. They kind of dress similarly to the way they dress in Dune. The desert planet Arrakis still has plenty of spice, worms, and rebels. So you might want to have some familiarity with this world of palace intrigue and intergalactic war.
The biggest difference is that the Bene Gesserit is simply known as the “Sisterhood” and has not quite become the all-powerful and influential religious order they are in Dune. They’re getting there, however. They’re working on it. The plans they’re trying to put in motion are the ones that come to fruition, kinda sorta, in Dune actually. Here are the various sisters, mothers, acolytes, and royal family members that make up this intriguing saga.
Olivia Williams plays Sister Tula Harkonnen
“Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen is used to living her life in the shadow of her older sister Valya, but when an outside force threatens the Sisterhood, she is called upon to lead. To do so, she must choose between the Order’s needs and her own.”
It honestly wouldn’t be an HBO series without sibling rivalry. Tula understands Valya in ways the other characters don’t, which is vital given how powerful they both are.
Olivia Williams is known for films like The Sixth Sense, Rushmore, and An Education as well as two Joss Whedon shows, Dollhouse and The Nevers. Emma Canning (Masters of the Air) plays Young Tula.
Aoife Hinds plays Sister Emeline
“A gifted, but zealous acolyte descended from a long line of martyrs, Sister Emeline seeks to bring a religious influence to the Sisterhood.”
The different factions/ideologies in the Sisterhood are fascinating to watch unfold. Mother Superior Valya is more concerned with prophecy and genetics than some of the more traditional aspects of piety, despite being in charge of a religious order.
Hinds played Helen in Normal People and Mae Chung in one memorable episode of Derry Girls. She’s Irish, if you didn’t put that together—and her father is actor Ciarán Hinds. She also plays Skye in the 2024 film We Live in Time with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.
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