The Dune franchise is already expanding, and the new movie isn’t even close to making its way to theaters yet. It’s come to light that WarnerMedia has given a straight-to-series order to a new show titled Dune: The Sisterhood, which will air on the company’s as-of-yet untitled streaming service. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), who is helming the new movie adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel, will direct the pilot for the series, and will serve as a producer.
This new show will take place in the same universe as the new movie adaptation of Dune, which is filming under Denis Villeneuve as we speak. It’s said to be a female-focused tale set within the same world and will focus on a race of women within Frank Herbert’s sprawling epic known as The Bene Gesserit. Jon Spaihts is set to pen the script for the series, which will be produced by Legendary Television. Spaihts will also serve as a producer, alongside Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert, who will oversee the project on behalf of Frank Herbert’s estate. Denis Villeneuve had this to say about the series in a statement.
“The Bene Gesserit have always been fascinating to me. Focusing a series around that powerful order of women seemed not only relevant and inspiring but a dynamic setting for the television series.”
Dune: The Sisterhood centers on The Bene Gesserit and explores the future through the eyes of this mysterious order of women. They were gifted abilities, mastery of the body and the mind. With their gifts, they expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, with plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the planet Arrakis, known to those who live there simply as Dune.
This is, all at once, both quite surprising and also not terribly shocking. When it was initially announced in November 2016 that Legendary had acquired the rights to Dune, the plan was to turn it into a possible franchise. The studio is already planning to make a sequel to the movie, which is set to arrive on November 20, 2020, and they also have plans for comic books, games and more. Frank Herbert wrote six novels in the series, with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson penning further installments, leaving more than 20 novels to pull from. So there certainly is a lot to work with, assuming a wide enough audience will buy into this universe on a large scale.
WarnerMedia is attempting to enter the streaming game with their service next year, which will have to compete with Netflix and Disney+, amongst others. In order to do that, they’re going to need premium content. Dune: The Sisterhood, could very well qualify. For now, there is no word on whether or not Timothee Chalamet or any of the other cast members from the movie will reprise their roles in the series. It also isn’t clear when exactly we could see the series debut. This news was previously reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
