Prequels can be pretty hit or miss. For every The Godfather: Part II we’re also stuck with a Solo: A Star Wars Story. The idea for a prequel is always an easy sell, though. You’re in the same universe as a beloved franchise, and sometimes even with the same characters. That’s what we’re dealing with in Dune: Prophecy, a series set “10,000 years before the birth of Paul Atreides.” The main character of the show is Valya Harkonnen, played by the excellent Emily Watson.
The trailer for Dune: Prophecy gives us our best look at Valya, as well as what the show is going to focus on. Besides Valya, we also meet her sister Tula, and together they create the Bene Gesserit, a sisterhood with the mission manipulating breeding of royals until the chosen one is born – known as the Kwisatz Haderach. He would eventually rule the universe and the idea was he would be under Bene Gesserit control. It’s more complicated than that but that’s all you really need to know.
In Dune, Paul Atreides becomes the chosen one, but he rebels and the Bene Gesserit lose control of their breeding program. The story of Valya Harkonnen is the beginning of this process, and it tells the story of her eventual rise to Mother Superior, the leader of the Bene Gesserit. Because it’s set so far in the past, we’re not going to get any cameos from any Dune characters, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
This essentially gives showrunner Alison Schapker a lot of space to create a world with the same aesthetics as the movie but without having to be bound by its plot. Let’s take a closer look at Valya and the universe of Dune: Prophecy.
Who was Valya Harkonnen?
Warning: The following may contain unintended spoilers for the Valya Harkonnen storyline in Dune: Prophecy, so read at your own risk.
Valya Harkonnen was a member of House Harkonnen from the ice-choked planet of Lankiveil. She went from humble beginnings to become the Mother Superior (the most senior sister) of the Bene Gesserit, a name she coined. She was one of the first Reverend Mothers (an advanced level Bene Gesserit sister) ever.
If you’ve seen the movie or read the Frank Herbert novels, you know that Paul Atreides’ mother Jessica Atreides was a Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit. Valya was the first of that lineage. You’ve probably also noticed the Harkonnen connection. Valya’s story shows just how deep the rift between House Harkonnen and House Atreides really is, and how it started thousands of years before Paul faced off with Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen to become the emperor.
When Valya was young, House Harkonnen had fallen into disrepair, and she blamed that on Paul’s ancestor Vorian Atreides, who bested the Harkonnens during the Battle of Corrin. He was also the first one to use the name Atreides and the one who established house Atreides into one of the great houses. Her whole life she planned revenge, and she even taught her siblings Griffin and Tula that they had to eradicate house Atreides once and for all.
Tula will appear in the new series played by Olivia Williams (The Crown). Valya began her rise when she joined the Sisterhood of Rossak (the pre Bene Gesserit sisterhood), where she was a gifted student of Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul.
She became one of the most trusted sisters and was taught many of the sisterhood secrets. She was told by Raquella to spy on her fellow sister Dorotea (who will appear in Dune: Prophecy as Reverend Mother, played by Camilla Beeput). Dorotea steals the Rossak Drug (a poison similar to the water of life) and takes it, while Valya only pretends to do so. Dorotea survives and eventually becomes a Reverend Mother.
There are two more important things you need to know about Valya. She was a trained Swordmaster, a task she took on to help the sisterhood cause, but really to kill Vorian. This makes her just as deadly in battle as she is using the voice. Ah yes, the voice. It was used sparingly in the newer movies but it’s a powerful Bene Gesserit tool used to mentally control others. Valya developed the voice herself, and if you remember Paul’s mother Jessica used it on occasion to control people and get her way.
Later in life, Mother Superior Raquella was dying and wanted Valya and Dorothea to be co-leaders of the sisterhood to settle the rift between them and the sisterhood as a whole. However, Valya used the voice to force Dorotea to commit suicide and she became the sole Reverend Mother Superior, and eventually renamed the sisterhood Bene Gesserit and molded it in her image.
This is Valya’s storyline in the books, so it remains to be seen how much of that will be pulled from for the new show.
Is Valya Harkonnen a character in the Dune books?
Dune: Prophecy covers a period not included in Frank Herbert’s novels, but it does include characters in the prequel novels written by Frank Herbert’s son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Valya first appears in Sisterhood of Dune, and her story continues in Mentats of Dune and Navigators of Dune.
Dune: Prophecy is set for release in the fall of this year, although Max has yet to release a firm date.