Legendary Entertainment has a plan. In the wake of smash successes like Game of Thrones, they want to revive Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, about a future where humanity has colonized the galaxy. There’s a Dune movie from Arrival director Denis Villeneuve already in post-production. Legendary also wants video games, comic books…and TV shows.
WarnerMedia also has a plan. Seeing the success of services like Netflix and Disney+ (which isn’t out yet but you know it’s gonna be big), they’re readying HBO Max, a streaming services that will fight for viewer attention in an increasingly competitive marketplace. One of their tentpole original series is Dune: The Sisterhood, which will explore the inner workings of the Bene Gesserit order, a conclave of women with nigh-superhuman abilities who try to maneuver the events of the universe to their own mysterious ends.
Well, both plans have hit a snag. The Hollywood Reporter has it that showrunner Jon Spaihts has left Dune: The Sisterhood. He also cowrote the screenplay for the Dune movie with Villeneuve.
Per THR’s sources, Legendary was “not happy” with the early work Spaihts had produced. Instead, he’ll be focusing on the sequel to Villeneuve’s movie, which hasn’t been officially greenlit yet. He’ll remain on board the show as an executive producer, along with Villeneuve (who is set to direct the pilot), Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert. Kevin J. Anderson will co-produce.
Y’know, there’s an alarming lack of women on the creative team for a show about an all-female organization. Then again, the writing room hasn’t been assembled yet, so far as I know.
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Anyway, it’s never a good sign when shows go through personnel changes, but at this early stage, maybe we can give Legendary the benefit of the doubt and say that they’re working out early kinks…until we hear more.
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