Dune: Prophecy Review: The Spice Doesn't Flow In This Dour, Lifeless Game Of Thrones Knockoff

When does a pattern turn into a trend? How about a trend becoming a bad habit? And at what point does a bad habit metastasize into an all-out plea for help? For the better part of the last two decades, studios have taken every IP they happen to hold the rights to and strip-mined them in order to replicate past blockbuster successes. From "The Hobbit" trilogy to the "Jurassic World" movies to, well, whatever "Star Wars" is doing these days, each of these examples were made out of an obvious desire to make money and (for the most part) managed to haul in billion-dollar profits by the truckload. Nowadays, however, even the industry's most reliable quality — shameless corporate greed — feels all muddled. The rise of streaming meant splintering off once-reliable money-makers into endless spin-off shows and prequel series, chasing the allure of subscriber numbers and Wall Street gains over cold, hard cash.

Don't look now, Hollywood, but it's officially time for an intervention.

It's tough to lay all the blame at the feet of "Dune: Prophecy," but HBO's attempt to capitalize on the hottest property in town sure feels like a nadir of sorts. In 2021, director Denis Villeneuve did the impossible and crafted a well-received adaptation of author Frank Herbert's impenetrable sci-fi/fantasy novel ... only to perform that miracle all over again three years later with "Dune: Part 2." We should've known, then, that it was only a matter of time before Padishah Emperor David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros., decided to take all that good will and flush it down the drain. The warning signs were there, after all, given the extensive behind-the-scenes overhaul reported as early as 2019. Yet even the smoothest production in the world likely wouldn't have done much to save a story doomed to be as strained and pointless as this. "Dune: Prophecy" drains all the awe and spectacle from the movies, replacing them with a dour and action-free "Game Of Thrones" knockoff as lifeless as the deserts of Arrakis itself.

Imagine it was 2011 all over again and the series premiere of "Game of Thrones" began not with a bold, atmospheric opening sequence that would hook audiences right from the start, but with a long, ponderous flashback sequence laying out exposition so unimaginatively that it sets off alarm bells in an instant. "Dune: Prophecy" doesn't make the best of first impressions, to say the least. Sleepy voiceover narration by Emily Watson's Valya Harkonnen, the closest thing we have to a main protagonist, walks viewers through the show's vast, planet-hopping backstory in a choppy sequence that feels like it was thrown together at the last moment. This history lesson spans a brutal war between humanity and thinking machines (unfortunately, the epic "Butlerian Jihad" dye-in-the-wool fans have been waiting to see feels more like the opening scene of "Terminator 3"), the early days of the Bene Gesserit order and their ceaseless quest to bioengineer the perfect leader, and the origins of the ancient Atreides/Harkonnen family rivalry — which is ultimately far less interesting than anything implied in the movies.

That becomes a recurring theme throughout this debut season of "Dune: Prophecy" (of which only four of the six total episodes were made available to critics), loosely based on the 2012 book "Sisterhood of Dune" by Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert and co-author Kevin J. Anderson. Not only must the series contend with the sheer magnitude of this universe, setting itself 10,0000 years before Paul Atreides was ever born yet never really feeling like the ancient past, but it also neglects to add anything of note to complement the themes or ambition of its big-screen predecessors. The order of the Bene Gesserit, the space witches who wield enormous power shaping the politics of the Imperium, seemed like an obvious starting point through which to sink its teeth into concerns about history versus prophecy or the idea of where power truly resides. Various episodes pay lip service to these notions, particularly through the ever-driven Valya and her stubborn belief that she's the answer to prophecy, but otherwise the series never aspires to anything greater than that.

And even when "Dune: Prophecy" isn't competing with the intimidating shadow cast by the movies, it draws all sorts of unflattering comparisons to the fantasy series that's (ironically) inspired in part by "Dune" itself: "Game of Thrones." We have shady political schemers exerting power over the entire Imperium, a Golden Lion Throne that corrupts those who lust for it, a royal wedding arranged between rival houses to further secure control (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina's Princess Ynez Corrino, who at least livens up the proceedings when she's on screen, might as well be a more idealistic Daenerys Targaryen), mysterious deaths that kick off the plot in earnest, and enough sex and nudity to make Gen Z blush ... and that's before Mark Addy waltzes onto the scene in later episodes, boasting the exact same swagger as his previous role as King Robert Baratheon.

Too bad very little of this feels as cohesive as the best seasons of the other HBO flagship series, oftentimes lobbing House names and fantastical planets and deep-cut lore references towards viewers at a frenzied pace and mistaking that for depth.

Perhaps it's only fitting that "Dune: Prophecy" is (ostensibly) all about the most powerful forces in the universe bringing their own ruin down upon them. For all the best intentions among the creative team, a massive budget that doesn't fully make its way onto the screen, and the cast doing everything they possibly can — particularly Travis Fimmel, who makes a series of wild choices as wildcard soldier Desmond Hart and then, uh, triples down on them — none of these elements quite come together to make this prequel soar. Directors Anna Foerster, John Cameron, and Richard J. Lewis shoot their episodes with the same house style, opting for a chilly courtroom drama vibe that keeps viewers at arm's length from the characters themselves. Ultimately, there might not be a more self-defeating series on television in 2024 than this one.

Where Villeneuve grounded his saga in the cautionary arc of Paul Atreides, showrunner Alison Schapker, co-developer Diane Ademu-John, and their team of writers struggle to find a similar all-encompassing perspective. Valya stands out mainly due to Watson's piercing (if one-note) performance and Jessica Barden's fiery portrayal as her younger self 30 years in the past, and her sister Tula (Olivia Williams in the present, Emma Canning in the past) eventually comes into her own as a more empathetic counterpoint to Valya's rigidity. But beyond the two sisters and one flashback-heavy hour that stands out as the best of the bunch, every other episode buckles under the weight of simply too many characters without the benefit of nearly any interesting ones. Somewhere in the mix, viewers have to juggle disparate, humorless subplots featuring Chris Mason as Ynez's swordmaster and conflicted lover Keiran, Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco Corrino and Jodhi May as his almost Lady Macbeth-like wife Empress Natalya, and a cadre of Bene Gesserit acolytes who hardly stand out from one another — though Jade Anouka as Theodosia and Chloe Lea as Lila are at least given fairly significant material down the line.

All told, "Dune: Prophecy" easily ranks among the most disappointing examples of franchise expansions dressed up as prestige TV. For a series so interested in whether we're merely the product of our upbringing or the choices we make, there's a tragic irony behind its inability to pull off the same magic trick that recent efforts like "House of the Dragon," "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," "Agatha All Along," and "The Penguin" managed to do. What could've been an underdog story of artists sneaking in some real storytelling into studio schlock instead feels like the inevitable end result of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

/Film Rating: 5 out of 10

"Dune: Prophecy" debuts on HBO and Max November 17, 2024.