Emily Watson and Olivia Williams both have decades of acting experience, but they’re still trying new things – namely, joining a big sci-fi franchise like Dune. Both actors have backgrounds in theater, as well as big-screen roles in movies like Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love for Watson and Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and Carey Mulligan-led An Education for Williams.
So what was it like joining a sprawling genre franchise at this stage of their careers? “It’s kind of great and also a little bit intimidating, because we’re both used to the currency of, I guess, critical mass,” Watson explains. “So, you do things that are well regarded and they gain momentum, whereas something like this is just, boom, it’s out there. And that feels different.”
The pair play sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen, two senior members of the Sisterhood that would go on to become the all-powerful Bene Gesserit. The prequel series is set 10,000 years before the events of Dune and the rise of Paul Atreides.
“I didn’t know what I was getting involved in, to be very honest, until a man had to come and install a TV and the wifi,” Williams adds. “I told him I was playing Tula Harkonnen, and he knelt at my feet. So I was like, ‘Okay, this is something I’ve got to take seriously and honor the imaginations and the loyalty of many, many people around the world.'”
Dune: Prophecy premieres on HBO and Max on November 17 and releases the following day on Sky and NOW in the UK. For more, check out our Dune: Prophecy release schedule and our Dune: Prophecy review.