Travis Fimmel joins the cast of Dune: The Sisterhood

The cast of HBO Max’s Dune prequel show grows more intriguing by the day. The latest news is that Vikings star Travis Fimmel has joined the production. The announcement comes courtesy of Deadline, who reports that Fimmel will be the show’s male lead opposite Emily Watson (Chernobyl) and Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), who play the formidable Harkonnen Sisters.

Set 10,000 years before Frank Herbert’s original Dune book, The Sisterhood will explore the formation of the mysterious Bene Gesserit, a powerful group of women who dictate the future of the galaxy by experimenting with genes in order to bring about the birth of a supposed messiah named the Kwisatz Hadderach. It’s based on the book Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Travis Fimmel joins the cast of HBO Max’s Dune prequel series

Deadline also revealed a bit more about Fimmel’s character, Desmond Hart, “a charismatic soldier with an enigmatic past who seeks to gain the Emperor’s trust at the expense of the Sisterhood.” So it sounds like he’ll be playing a charismatic villain, which is right in Fimmel’s wheelhouse. The actor is best known for his time as warlord Ragnar Lothbrok on Vikings, but a more recent example of his talents that sounds closer to his role in Dune: The Sisterhood is Marcus, the criminal turned soldier turned religious leader that served as one of the main antagonists on Raised By Wolves. Raised By Wolves was also an HBO Max original, marking this as a return to the platform for Fimmel since that show was canceled earlier this year.

Fimmel joins a cast that is growing more stacked by the day. In addition to him, Watson, and Henderson, Dune: The Sisterhood also stars Game of Thrones veteran Indira Varma, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Faoileann Cunningham, Aoife Hinds and Chloe Lea. The series is being executive produced by 2021 Dune film director Denis Villeneuve, as well as Jon Spaihts, Scott Z. Burns, Matthew King, John Cameron and Cait Collins. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are also attached as executive producer and co-producer, respectively.

Dune: The Sisterhood is due to start filming in Budapest, Hungary sometime this month.

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h/t Collider