The fourth episode of Dune: Prophecy, "Twice Born," just aired, and it contained some whopper twists. Lila is alive! Desmond Hart foiled the plan to assassinate the emperor before the Bene Gesserit could foil it! And Sister Theodosia, the mild-mannered acolyte who accompanied Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen to the royal planet of Salusa Secundus, revealed that she's...a shape-shifter?
Somehow, at the end of the episode, Theodosia walks out a room looking like the spitting image of Valya's brother Griffin, who had died decades before. It's implied that this ability is why Valya brought Theodosia to Salusa Secundus in the first place, and now they're both ready to make use of it.
What's going on here? Alongside other journalists, we got to talk to actor Jade Anouka, who plays Theodosia, all about it. Check out our conversation below!
Q: So I think the last thing that we saw at the end of the in the first four episodes is Theodosia revealing her special talent.
Jade Anouka: "It's not a talent!"
Q: How does Theodosia think of it?
Jade Anouka: "I think she's very adamant [that] it's not just a talent...I think it's seen as something that is who she is, and she's trying to break away from that. And I think part of her being in the Sisterhood is proving that she has other skills and other abilities, and that she's more than this person who has this talent that she can, you know, just pop out and do at parties. It's like, 'No, she's more than just that.' And I think that's partly why she's in the Sisterhood. It's a sanctuary, and it's a way to kind of get away from having to do that, which as you can see is not a comfortable thing to do."
Q: Which scene in this season that you can talk about gave you the reaction of, 'Oh man, this is crazy, this is weird, I can't wait to talk about this'?
Jade Anouka: "Everything from, like, [Episode] 4 onwards that I can't talk about is the stuff I really want to talk about. When we find out about Theo's powers and ability, shall I say, doing that was a new thing for me onscreen and a really fun thing to be part of, and to work with lots of different members of the crew and stuff in terms of how to put that across. I mean, I feel like I'm just talking in code."
How is Sister Theodosia able to shape-shift on Dune: Prophecy?
By the way, when Anouka said "It's not a talent" in response to my first question, she was literally quoting something that Theodosia said on the show, which I didn't pick up until I rewatched. The attention to detail is real!
Anyway, we didn't ask Anouka exactly how it is she's shape-shifting, but if you're familiar with the Dune universe you know that there's a group of people capable of this: the Bene Tleilax, a secretive sect of genetically modified humans who first appear in Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah and are a consistent presence thereafter. Perhaps Theodosia's "talent" is related to them in some way.
There's only one way to find out for sure: keep watching. New episodes drop Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
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