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

Anyone who has read any of the Dune books, or watched any of the Dune movies, or, heck, talked to anyone who has done either of those things will tell you: The world of Dune is complicated. This is a grand sci-fi universe, built on a few millennia of royal politicking, power plays, manipulation, and violence. 

So it’s no surprise that Dune: Prophecy has a lot of people to cover. It’s the same universe, sure, and is loosely adapted from Brian Herbert’s Great Schools of Dune, a prequel trilogy to his father’s series. But Prophecy is set some 10,000 years and change ahead of when Paul Atreides lands on Arrakis, so there’s a whole host of new characters and traditions to establish here. The family names will almost certainly be ones you’re familiar with, but the circumstances of the houses will not be. 

In light of that, we’ve pulled together a primer on who to know from Dune: Prophecy and how they correlate to other characters across Dune.

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

The Bene Gesserit Sisterhood

In the pilot of Prophecy we see the Sisterhood at a couple different times: Early on we see Valya Harkonnen (played then 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 getting started at this point, Valya uses the Voice on fellow sister Dorotea (Camilla Marie Beeput) and makes her drive her own knife into her neck. 

Flash-forward to 30 years later, when the Sisterhood is thriving, and now-Mother Superior Valya (played in the present day by Emily Watson) is still committed to doing anything to preserve the Bene Gesserit vision of the universe. At her side is Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams as the elder, Emma Canning as young Tula) and Reverend Mother Kasha (Jihae), who currently serves as the very trusted truthsayer to Emperor Corrino. 

There’s a collection of young sisters currently studying with the Bene Gesserit, but we don’t know a ton about them quite yet. Some were raised by the Bene Gesserit, and others came when they were a little older (like Princess Ynez will); mostly what’s important about them right now is Tula and Valya each have their favorites — and maybe even a plan for each of them. 

House Corrino

You might not know the name, but you certainly know the house: Corrino is still the ruling family during the period of Dune. So the full name of Christopher Walken’s emperor character in Dune 2 is Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. But here, 10,000 years before then, Corrino’s Empire is at a very different place. 

It’s headed up by Emperor Javicco (Mark Strong), who at this point is mostly concerned with how weak his position is (or could be perceived as) and is all set to marry off his daughter. He’s also pretty reliant on his personal truthsayer, Reverend Mother Kasha, much to the chagrin of his wife, Empress Natalya Arat (Jodhi May). She is concerned about the growing gulf between herself and her husband (saying the Empire was more stable when they were more of a unit), and cautions her daughter against drinking too much of the Bene Gesserit Kool-Aid. 

But the kids are all right: Constantine Corrino (Josh Heuston), Javicco’s illegitimate son, isn’t striving for the throne and is more than happy to handle some business on behalf of the family. Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) is doing all she can to prepare to be an effective empress: taking sword training, enlisting with the Bene Gesserit, and marrying a 9-year-old so she can have 10 years to herself. 

Of course, her marriage didn’t quite work out (kid dies, more on that below), and no one is really sure where that leaves House Corrino or Princess Ynez, exactly. As Javicco is constantly worried about, his position feels vulnerable, and the houses seem to be fighting for power around him. (Not to mention he’s constantly reminded about the size of his fleet, comparatively.) So pairing up with an important power player seems key in this moment…

House Harkonnen

Though Dune: Prophecy’s pilot doesn’t get into specifics, we know this is a rocky 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 100 or so years later all anyone can remember is that the Harkonnens deserted), the family has fallen out of favor. When we pick up with them, the Harkonnens have been banished to a remote, icy planet. 

Obviously two Harkonnens make it pretty far in the Bene Gesserit. But beyond that, the most important Harkonnen player is… Harrow Harkonnen (Edward Davis). He doesn’t make a ton of impressions at the princess’ wedding festivities! Mostly his personality for now can be winnowed down to: “boring the emperor talking about the utilities of whale farming” and “a Harkonnen with hair.” 

House Atreides

There hasn’t been much talk of House Atreides in the first episode of Prophecy. They’re more or less restricted to Valya’s voice-over, that “history says it was an Atreides who led” humans to victory over the thinking machines. She claims this was a history “spun out of lies.” But this opinion of hers clearly sets up the Atreides-Harkonnen feud going strong 10,000 years later. 

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

Desmond Hart

At least for now, Desmond Hart is being very clear about his allegiances to House Corrino, saying in his interrogation that he serves “the Imperium, and only the Imperium.” He freely admits to killing both a child and Reverend Mother Kasha because he believed it to be in the emperor’s best interests.

While it certainly seems like there’s more to know about this stranger and his powers, for now he’s only offering up some vague glimpses into how he came to be: “Shai-hulud took my eye, and granted me with a gift to see what even you [Valya and the Sisterhood] cannot.” When the empress asks him if he’s a prophet he wistfully musters: “I don’t know. There are things that I can do. Beautiful… terrible things.”

Per Kasha’s and now Valya’s assessment of him, he seems to be holding something back; telling the truth as he believes it but lying in some way. So what are his true loyalties and what game is he playing? One thing seems to be for certain: Boy, oh boy, does he hate the Sisterhood.