All the Dune: Prophecy houses and characters you need to know

Anyone who has read any of the Dune books or seen any of the Dune movies or, hell, spoken to anyone who has done any of those things will tell you: the world of Dune is complicated. This is a great science fiction universe built on a few millennia of royal politics, power games, manipulation and violence.

So that's no surprise Dune: Prophecy has a lot of people to look after. It's certainly the same universe and a loose adaptation of Brian Herbert's Great Schools of Dune, a prequel trilogy to his father's series. But prophecy The plot takes place around 10,000 years and changes before Paul Atreides lands on Arrakis, so there are a whole host of new characters and traditions to establish here. The family names will almost certainly be familiar to you, but the circumstances of the houses will not.

With that in mind, we've put together a primer on who you should know Dune: Prophecy and how they correlate with other characters in Dune.

[Ed. note: The rest of this post contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy season 1.]

The Bene Gesserit Sisterhood

In the pilot film of prophecy We see the sisterhood at different times: At the beginning we see Valya Harkonnen (then played as Jessica Barden) as a sister who is called to the bedside of the dying Mother Superior Raquella. In order to maintain the Bene Gesserit breeding program, which has only just begun at this point, Valya uses the voice on her fellow sister Dorotea (Camilla Marie Beeput) and has her stab her own knife in the neck.

Flash forward 30 years later, when the sisterhood is thriving and current Mother Superior Valya (now played by Emily Watson) is still determined to do everything she can to preserve the Bene Gesserit vision of the universe. At her side are Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams as the elder, Emma Canning as the young Tula) and Reverend Mother Kasha (Jihae), who currently serves as Emperor Corrino's most trusted fortune teller.

There are a number of young sisters currently studying with the Bene Gesserit, but we don't know much about them yet. Some were raised by the Bene Gesserit, others came when they were a little older (as Princess Ynez will do); The most important thing about them right now is that Tula and Valya each have their favorites – and maybe even a plan for each of them.

You may not know the name, but you definitely know the house: Corrino is still the ruling family at this time dune. That's the full name of Christopher Walken's imperial character Dune 2 is Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. But here, 10,000 years earlier, Corrino's empire is in a very different place.

At the helm is Emperor Javicco (Mark Strong), who at this point is mostly concerned about how weak his position is (or that he might be perceived as) and is willing to marry off his daughter. He is also quite reliant on his personal fortune teller, Reverend Mother Kasha, much to the chagrin of his wife, Empress Natalya Arat (Jodhi May). She is concerned about the growing rift between her and her husband (saying the Empire was more stable when they formed a unit) and warns her daughter not to drink too much Bene Gesserit Kool-Aid.

But the children are doing well: Constantine Corrino (Josh Heuston), Javicco's illegitimate son, is not seeking the throne and is happy to take care of a few businesses on behalf of the family. Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) does everything she can to prepare herself to become a successful empress: she completes sword training, enlists in the Bene Gesserit, and marries a 9-year-old so that she can have 10 years for herself can have.

Of course, their marriage didn't quite work out (child dies, more on that below), and no one is really sure where exactly that leaves House Corrino or Princess Ynez. With Javicco constantly worrying, his position feels vulnerable and the houses around him seem to be fighting for power. (Not to mention, he's constantly reminded of the size of his fleet by comparison.) So aligning with a major power player seems crucial at this moment…

Although Dune: ProphecyThe pilot doesn't go into details, we know this is a difficult time for the Harkonnens. After being branded traitors by the Atreides during the Butlerian Jihad (in the books it is said because the Atreides wanted to push an attack at the expense of human prisoners while the Harkonnens wanted to hold back), and about 100 years later, all that anyone remembers (maybe the Harkonnens deserted), the family fell into disgrace. When we pick them up, the Harkonnens are exiled to a remote, icy planet.

Apparently two Harkonnens made it pretty far into the Bene Gesserit. But beyond that, the most important Harkonnen player is… Harrow Harkonnen (Edward Davis). He doesn't make much of an impression at the princess's wedding celebrations! At the moment, his personality can largely be boiled down to: “It's boring when the Emperor talks about the benefits of whale farming” and “a Harkonnen with hair.”

Not much was said about House Atreides in the first episode of prophecy. They are more or less limited to Valya's voiceover that “history says it was an Atreides who” led humans to victory over the thinking machines. She claims this was a story “spun out of lies.” But this opinion of hers clearly causes the Atreides-Harkonnen feud to continue 10,000 years later.

But there's already an Atreides in our cast, even if his house is certainly downplayed: Kieran Atreides (Chris Mason), the princess's swordmaster.

At least for now, Desmond Hart is there very clear about his loyalty to House Corrino and said in his interrogation that he “serves the Empire, and only the Empire.” He freely admits to killing both a child and Reverend Mother Kasha because he believed it was in the Emperor's best interest.

While it certainly seems like there is more to know about this stranger and his powers, for now he only provides some vague insight into how he came to be: “Shai-hulud took my eye and gave me the gift, at all something to see.” You [Valya and the Sisterhood] can't.” When the Empress asks him whether he is a prophet, he replies wistfully: “I don't know. There are things I can do. Beautiful…terrible things.”

From Kasha's and now Valya's assessment of him, he seems to be holding something back; telling the truth as he believes it, but lying some Away. So what are his true loyalties and what game is he playing? One thing seems certain: boy, oh boy, does he hate the sorority.