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

Anyone who's read any of the Dune books, seen any of the Dune movies, or, hell, talked to anyone who's done any of those things will tell you: The world of Dune is complicated. This is a big science fiction universe, built on a few millennia of real politicking, power games, manipulation and violence.

So it's no wonder that Dune: Prophecy He has a lot of people to cover. It's the same universe, of course, and it's loosely adapted from Brian Herbert's Great Schools of Dune, a prequel trilogy to his father's series. But Prophecy It takes place about 10,000 years and changes before Paul Atreides lands on Arrakis, so there are a lot of new characters and lore to establish here. The surnames will almost certainly be those you know, but the circumstances of the houses will not be.

In light of that, we've put together an introduction to who to know. Dune: Prophecy and how they correlate with other Dune characters.

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

The Bene Gesserit Brotherhood

in the pilot Prophecy We see the Brotherhood in a couple of different moments: Early on we see Valya Harkonnen (then played as Jessica Barden) as a sister, called to the bedside of the dying Mother Superior Raquella. In an effort to preserve the Bene Gesserit breeding program, which is just beginning at the moment, Valya uses the Voice on her sister Dorotea (Camilla Marie Beeput) and forces her to plunge her own knife into her neck.

Flash forward to 30 years later, when the Brotherhood is thriving and the now Mother Superior Valya (present day played by Emily Watson) is still committed to doing anything to preserve the Bene Gesserit vision of the universe. At his side are Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams as the eldest, Emma Canning as the younger Tula) and Reverend Mother Kasha (Jihae), who currently serves as Emperor Corrino's trusted truth-teller.

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

You may not know the name, but you certainly know the house: Corrino remains the ruling family during the period of Dune. So, the full name of Christopher Walken's Emperor character in Dune 2 is Emperor Padishah Shaddam Corrino IV. But here, 10,000 years earlier, the Corrino Empire is in a very different place.

It's headed by Emperor Javicco (Mark Strong), who at this point is more concerned about how weak his position is (or could be perceived as) and is ready to marry off his daughter. He is also quite reliant on his truth-teller, Reverend Mother Kasha, much to the chagrin of his wife, Empress Natalya Arat (Jodhi May). She worries about the growing chasm between her and her husband (she says the Empire was more stable when they were more of a unit) and warns her daughter not to drink too much Bene Gesserit Kool-Aid.

But the kids are fine: Constantine Corrino (Josh Heuston), Javicco's illegitimate son, has no claim to the throne and is more than happy to take care of some business on behalf of the family. Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) is doing everything she can to prepare herself to be an effective empress: training with the sword, enlisting with the Bene Gesserit, and marrying a 9-year-old boy so she can have 10 years to herself.

Although Dune: ProphecyThe pilot does not go into details, we know that this is a difficult period for the Harkonnens. After being branded traitors by the Atreides during the Butlerian Jihad (the books tell us it's because the Atreides wanted to push an attack at the cost of human captives, while the Harkonnens wanted to hold back, and roughly 100 years later, all anyone can remember) is that the Harkonnens defected), the family has fallen from grace. When we meet them, the Harkonnens have been banished to a remote, icy planet.

Obviously, two Harkonnen go quite far in the Bene Gesserit. But beyond that, Harkonnen's most important player is… Harrow Harkonnen (Edward Davis). It doesn't make many impressions at the princess's wedding festivities! His personality for now can be mainly reduced to: “boring the emperor by talking about the benefits of whale farming” and “a Harkonnen with hair.”

Not much has been said about House Atreides in the first episode of Prophecy. They are more or less restricted to the voiceover of Valya, who “history says was an Atreides who led” humans to victory over thinking machines. She claims that it is a story “made of lies.” But this opinion of his clearly states that the dispute between Atreides and Harkonnen will strengthen 10,000 years later.

But there is already an Atreides among our cast of characters, although his house is certainly downplayed: Kieran Atreides (Chris Mason), the princess's swordmaster.

Desmond Hart serves House Carrino… but he seems to be holding back about something, at least according to Kasha's assessment of him. Oh, he also burned a child alive with just his mind. Looks like there's more to know about this stranger! Most notably: what are his true allegiances and what game is he playing?