A bewitching tale of power

Set 10,000 years before the events of the two Dune films (2021 and 2024), this six-episode series streaming on Max chronicles the goings-on at the Bene Gesserit, a religious order whose sisters serve as advisers to the aristocrats leading the Great Houses of the galactic empire.

- John Lui

As the title suggests, Dune: Prophecy delves into the origins of the prophecy central to the Dune films: that Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is the Chosen One, the product of a breeding programme designed to create a supernaturally gifted leader – the messiah whom the Fremen warriors of planet Arrakis call Lisan al Gaib.

With four episodes released so far, the sisterhood's obsession with bloodline purity has proven fascinatingly complex. It has been a quest for genetic perfection corrupted by all-too-human vices.

Where Canadian director Denis Villeneuve's Dune films offer quiet majesty alongside their science-fiction elements, the Max prequel embraces HBO's more lurid fantasy tropes, familiar to fans of Game of Thrones (2011 to 2019): mysticism, monsters and mass murder.

Here are three compelling reasons to watch Dune: Prophecy.