The season 1 finale of Dune: Prophecy brought us lots of twists and turns. Tula Harkonnen is Desmond Hart's mother! Valya Harkonnen is now on Arrakis! The Bene Gesserit school is in utter disarray!
Naturally, there were also character deaths. Valya assigned the Bene Gesserit sister Francesca to kill Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong), the father of her son, but she didn't seem like she was going to go through with it. But she didn't need to: despairing after learning that his life was the result of a series of manipulations by the Sisterhood, Javicco drove a blade into his own body. And then his wife Natalya (Jodhi May) came in and killed Francesca (Tabu) with the very poisoned needle that was intended to kill her husband.
So is Emperor Corrino really dead? We recently got to participate in a roundtable interview with Dune: Prophecy stars Emily Watson (Valya) and Olivia Williams (Tula), along with showrunner Alison Schapker. Schapker was asked directly if was truly the end for the emperor, and her answer left little doubt" "Is Javicco truly dead? Yes."
Olivia Williams was having none of that. "Bring back Mark Strong! Bring back Mark Strong!" she interjected. But it is not to be.
"We love him, and we're very sad about it," Schapker continued. "Mark Strong was a joy to work with, just a tremendous actor and a tremendous human being. I think his characterization of this particular emperor was brilliant, and it was such a pleasure to watch him trace his arc across the season. think it's okay to say that he's dead but he will be missed. And he leaves a big power vacuum."
That power vacuum will very likely be filled by his wife Natalya, who has been stewing on the sidelines all season and who clearly thinks she could do a better job running the Imperium than her husband. With Javicco dead and Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) at her side, she'll now get her chance.
We won't see what happens next for a while, but we will see what happens next. Just a few days before the finale dropped, HBO announced that it had renewed Dune: Prophecy for a second season, which is great news for fans who have enjoyed this televised exploration of the Dune universe. We don't know when new episodes might air, but I couldn't count on seeing anything before 2026 at the earliest.
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