Emily Watson Dune: Prophecy.
Photo: Attila Szvacsek/HBO

New York Comic Con is getting hot. On the first day of NYCC on Thursday, October 17, Warner Bros. wowed the Dune heads in attendance with a new, more in-depth look Dune: Prophecy. In addition to a brand new trailer, the afternoon panel also announced the series’ official premiere date on Max and HBO: November 17, 2024.

The new prequel spin-off of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune-Iverse” takes place 10,000 years before Timothée Chalamet’s rise to power. Dune: Prophecy traces the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the sisterhood of witches who play the really long game when it comes to amassing power and influence. The Harkonnens, the films’ main villains, also play a central role in the series.

The excitement of day one spread its magic throughout the room as Comic-Con attendees filled the Javits Center’s largest stage with a chorus of whoops, cheers and claps. The trailer has all the hallmarks of a typical HBO hit: political intrigue, ambitious rulers, beautiful sets and even hot sex thrown in for good measure. (This is an HBO show, after all.) Take House of the Dragon and swap out the dragons for spaceships and hooded witches, and that’s basically what it is Dune: Prophecy.

During the panel discussion, series showrunner Alison Schapker explained the series’ prequel setting – set after a war against artificial intelligence – and how it will differ from the Villeneuve films. “We stand in the shadow of the wars that humans have waged against thinking machines,” explained Schapker. “We are on the other side of the rise of artificial intelligence. It is a time of great reconstruction.”

Schapker added that the empire was in its earlier years and described the political landscape of Dune: Prophecy as “a neo-feudal society”. The focus is, of course, on the sisterhood, which, according to Schapker, “will become the Bene Gesserit.”

Dune: Prophecy is a science fiction film that is “post-technological,” with AI and other similar cutting-edge technologies being completely banned. However, that doesn’t mean the technology is gone, but it influences a certain way of world building unlike other typical sci-fi films. Series star Emily Watson, who plays Bene Gesserit leader Valya Harkonnen, joked that if someone in the audience pulled out their smartphone, it would bring about the death of the Bene Gesserit. Fear is the mind killer, but so is doomscrolling.