After two successful movies, fans need to wait until December 2026 for a third big-screen chapter in the Dune saga. In the meantime, HBO Max’s Dune: Prophecy provides a prequel.

A very very far in advance prequel, that is. Prophecy takes place about 10,000 years before the events depicted in the Dune films.

As described on the back of the 4K UHD release, the series “follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit”.

This three-disc set brings all six of Season One’s episodes. The plot synopses come from the series’ official website.

The Hidden Hand: “On Wallach IX, young Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden) promises Mother Superior Raquella (Cathy Tyson) that she’ll protect the Sisterhood by putting one of their own on the Imperial Throne. 30 years later, Valya (Emily Watson) faces a threat to her long-awaited plan.”

Setting Prophecy many millennia prior to the “main Dune universe” seems like a bold choice, and a potentially unnecessary one. Might it not have made more sense to give us a prequel with a more immediate connection to the characters we already know?

And shouldn’t fashion and society have changed a lot more over 10,000 years than Prophecy implies? Stylistically, it fits the Dune films pretty well, which seems odd as I can’t imagine any realms that didn’t become awfully different over 1000 years, much less 10,000.

Then we go to a nightclub where we hear electronic dance music and the whole vibe resembles a place that people would go to right now. The lack of imagination in this realm becomes borderline amusing, as it seems hilarious that this ancient alien realm would boast bars just like those of modern-day America.

Time to suspend disbelief, I guess. The question becomes whether or not the narrative told in Prophecy will be worth the effort.

Maybe? I never judge an entire TV series on one debut episode, but I must admit “Hand” launches matters in a fairly meh manner.

Granted, “pilot” programs like this need to do an awful lot of heavy lifting, as they must introduce an entire slew of characters and circumstances. Inevitably, that tends to make opening shows exposition-laden and less vibrant than those that follow.

Maybe “Hand” will just act as the intro and launching ground for compelling narrative events to come. The show leaves me less than optimistic, however.

Two Wolves: “After receiving word about events on Salusa Secundus, Valya brings Theodosia (Jade Anouka) to the Imperial House to help manage the situation. Meanwhile, a reluctant Tula (Olivia Williams) enlists Lila (Chloe Lea) for a vital mission.”

Going into Prophecy, I thought it reminded me of another prequel: House of the Dragon, set as a precursor to Game of Thrones. “Wolves” makes this connection more obvious because it comes with a feature common in Thrones and Dragon but absent from the Dune movies: some butt-nekkid lovin’.

“Wolves” helps earn the series’ “TV-MA” rating. At least a little appealing nudity adds a bit of spark to the show.

Not that “Wolves” doesn’t work overtime to create drama. It comes with a lot of overacting and moody music, all of which try to convince us we find dynamic material.

But we don’t. “Wolves” finds Prophecy still mired in the mud, as its narrative and characters fail to accelerate. Well, we still have two-thirds of the series to go, so maybe it’ll improve from here.

Sisterhood Above All: “Following a tragedy, young Tula (Emma Canning) worries about being accepted despite her family name, while a skeptical young Valya struggles with the decision to take the Sisterhood vow. Years later, Valya receives a message that confirms her suspicions.”

The more I watch Prophecy, the more convinced I become that the producers really did intend it to deliver a “Dune Game of Thrones”. The two simply come with far too much in common for me to see this as coincidence.

Unfortunately, Prophecy has yet to build the kind of drama or interesting characters we got from Thrones. “Sisterhood” again brings us an episode from a series without a particularly compelling narrative direction.

Twice Born: “As Tula attempts to understand the acolytes’ shared dream, Valya sets her plan in motion to redeem House Harkonnen ahead of the Landsraad.”

The more I watch Prophecy, the more I wish I knew someone who already saw the series and came at it from the POV of a major Dune fan. My only “major Dune fan” friend didn’t view Prophecy so I can’t get his perspective.

I say this because it seems entirely possible that Prophecy will delight those with a great investment in the Dune universe. That ain’t me, but I leave open the door to the possibility that buffs will think it’s splendid.

I find that tough to fathom, though, just because Prophecy seems so turgid and monotonous. “Born” feels like it wants to build toward something major, but the narrative and character development remains so sluggish that I think it seems stuck in neutral.

Might the final two episodes of Season One redeem Prophecy and add some punch? Maybe, but after four dreary shows, I feel pessimistic.

In Blood, Truth: “While Tula tries to keep her secret project from being discovered by the other Sisters, Desmond (Travis Fimmel) goes on a warpath to root out insurgents.”

As S1’s penultimate episode, “Truth” should offer an amplification of drama and tension to build toward the climactic program. And it does – I guess.

However, this feels like too little, too late, and “Truth” doesn’t really ignite in a way that sees creative. It forms Desmond as a cartoon villain who exists mainly to prompt potential fights and this means the show winds up as another spotty escapade.

The High-Handed Enemy: “As Tula contends with his true identity, Valya’s maneuvering leads her into an epic confrontation with an increasingly powerful Desmond.”

Season One comes to an end with an episode that falls into line with the soap opera vibe that dominated the prior five shows. While it offers some potentially intriguing developments, the tedium that preceded it means the show doesn’t ignite.

In other words: if I didn’t care about the characters in the initial set of programs, I won’t suddenly buy into them with the season finale. “Enemy” fails to find anything thrilling enough to overcome the dull nature of the season’s arc and its roles, so it becomes a forgettable conclusion to a forgettable set of shows.

Dune: Prophecy appears in an aspect ratio of 2.00:1 on these 4K UHD Discs. Despite cinematography that veered toward a murky image, the shows largely looked fine.

The biggest issue related to the series’ murky photography. Prophecy rarely allowed a whole lot of lighting to emerge, so much of the material remained submerged in darker settings.

For the most part, these offered fairly good clarity, though the general dimness of the source left a lot of the action nearly hidden in the shadows. Blacks did look solid, though, and HDR gave a boost to whites and contrast on those infrequent occasions the cinematography allowed them to appear.

Inevitably, the low-light nature of the image impacted sharpness. Though most of the time I thought the footage offered positive delineation, the dim nature of the photography led to a bit of softness.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws remained absent.

The series’ palette combined amber/orange and teal. Though not creative, these choices offered appropriate vivacity, and HDR gave them a boost. In the end, I thought the discs replicated the source well, but the nature of the muddy photography made the episodes a bit of a chore to watch.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the series’ Dolby Atmos soundtracks worked well. Of course, the smattering of action scenes fared best, as they used the various channels in a broad and immersive manner.

The rest of the soundscape offered nice involvement for the score and also created a good sense of environment. Though not always the most active soundfield, the track used the various channels to good advantage and fleshed out the spectrum well.

Audio quality satisfied, with speech that seemed concise and distinctive. Music brought good range and clarity.

Effects showed nice heft and accuracy as well. The programs enjoyed quality soundtracks.

Through all three discs, we get six Inside the Episode featurettes. All together, these occupy a total of 31 minutes, 32 seconds as we find comments from executive producers Alison Schapker and Jordan Goldberg, executive producers/directors Anna Foerster and John Cameron, director Richard J. Lewis, director of photography Richard Donnelly, and actors Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Jessica Barden, Camilla Beeput, Aiofe Hinds, Chloe Lea, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Jihae, Mark Strong, Travis Fimmel, Faoileann Cunningham, Jodhi May, Chris Mason, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Emma Canning, and Jade Anouka.

Across these, we learn about story and characters, cast and performances, various effects, sets and locations, and stunts/action. These tend to mix decent insights with praise for the series and those involved.

On Disc One, we find Entering the Dune Universe. It lasts two minutes, 58 seconds and involves Strong, Watson, Boussnina, Schapker, Goldberg, Jihae, Foerster, Barden, Mason, Lea, Williams, and Anouka.

“Entering” delivers a general overview of the series’ narrative and characters. It acts as a promo reel.

Houses Divided goes for two minutes, 47 seconds. This one brings notes from Goldberg, Mason, Schapker, Strong, May, Watson, Barden, Cameron and actor Edward Davis.

We find more notes about the settings and political structure of the series’ universe. Though essentially an ad ala “Entering”, it brings a little bit of useful backstory.

As we head to Disc Two, Truth or Lie brings two separate segments with a total time of five minutes, 38 seconds. The first features Boussnina, Mason, Davis, Jihae, Strong and May, while the second involves Watson, Lea, Canning, Barden, Cunningham, Hinds, and actors Charithra Chandran and Yerin Ha.

They read cards that look at claims about Prophecy and the Dune universe and must choose whether these are true or false. It becomes a fun way to promote the series.

Expanding the Universe lasts two minutes, 32 seconds. We find remarks from Goldberg, Foerster, Davis, Schapker, Mason, Hinds, Lewis, Watson, May, Cunningham, and Lea.

The program examines where Prophecy fits into the Dune universe and offers a bit more about story/character domains. It becomes another commercial more than anything else.

Finally, Disc Three delivers Behind the Veil. It breaks five into segments with a total time of 34 minutes, 45 seconds and involves Williams, Goldberg, Lewis, Watson, Schapker, Cameron, Foerster, Strong, Lea, Anouka, Barden, Lewis, Brune-Franklin, Cunningham, May, Canning, Ha, Beeput, Hinds, Boussnina, VFX producer Terron Pratt, VFX supervisor Michael Enriquez, composer Volker Bertelmann, production designer Tom Meyer, costume designer Bojana Nikitovic, hair and makeup designer Kate Benton, and actor Cathy Tyson.

Across these, we hear about various effects, music and audio, sets and locations, costumes, hair and makeup. Like the set's other programs, "Veil" mixes useful material with happy talk.

Building Worlds runs 13 minutes, four seconds. We get notes from Goldberg, Schapker, Meyer, Brune-Franklin, Chandran, Foerster, Pratt, Lewis, Barden, Davis, Watson, Canning, Williams, Hinds, Anouka, Tyson, May, Strong, Mason, and Cunningham.

Here we learn more about sets and locations as well as visual effects. Expect another mix of facts and fluff.

A prequel to the main novels/films, Dune: Prophecy lacks bite. It feels like an attempt to recreate the Game of Thrones vibe and this just doesn’t work. The 4K UHDs offer murky but generally good picture along with solid audio and mediocre bonus features. Maybe Season Two will bounce back but S1 becomes a sluggish chore to watch too much of the time.