Prophecy Episode 1’s Horrifying Ending Explained By Showrunner

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the premiere episode of “Dune: Prophecy.”

How do you make one big-budget streaming series stand out from all the rest? Well, ending your premiere on one heck of a shocker is definitely a tried-and-true method to get tongues wagging. We’ve seen that approach before work like gangbusters on the biggest of all fantasy shows in 2011, when the “Game of Thrones” premiere faithfully recreated one of the most unexpected twists in author George R.R. Martin’s novels by having young Bran shoved out of that tower and left for dead. Given how much “Dune: Prophecy” feels indebted to HBO’s flagship series, perhaps it’s not so surprising to see the show’s creative team attempt to recreate a very similar moment … though by upping the horrific nature of this particular murder.

In its biggest rug-pull sequence of the young season, “Dune: Prophecy” takes the hour-long setup of a wedding between the powerful royal families House Corrino and their ambitious vassal, House Richese, and undercuts it at the last possible second. The Emperor (played by Mark Strong) reluctantly goes along with the proposal that matches his daughter, the politically shrewd Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina), with an awfully young prince and soon-to-be heir to the throne (Charlie Hodson-Prior). But when he makes the mistake of venting his private reservations to a loyal soldier named Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), who somehow survived a sandworm attack on Arrakis and now seems to have been reborn with the disturbing ability to burn his targets alive, the Emperor inadvertently sets in motion the assassination of a child (and, by extension, his Bene Gesserit mentor played by actor Jihae) that upends everything we thought this season would be about.

At a recent press day attended by /Film’s Jacob Hall, “Dune: Prophecy” showrunner Alison Schapker provided some insights on exactly what went into this daring choice and how it’ll affect the rest of the episodes to come.

You know, I’m starting to think royal weddings in fantasy stories are a pretty bad idea. The ending of the “Dune: Prophecy” premiere didn’t fully reach Red Wedding-levels of disaster but, well, that’s mostly because the groom didn’t even make it that far before meeting his fate. This time, the child prince was doomed long before the actual wedding ever took place — right from the moment his future father-in-law recruited Desmond Hart into his circle. Perhaps a little too eager to please, the soldier decided to help out the Emperor’s political situation. Unfortunately, that involved killing the prince through immolation and it was awfully tough to watch.

Reading between the lines of showrunner Alison Schapker’s comments, it wasn’t much easier to write, either. While speaking to the press, Schapker explained how that brutal moment came to be and why. Apparently, it was meant to destabilize the decades-long plans of the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) to install an Emperor who would be submissive to their whims:

“Valya Harkonnen, our second Mother Superior, is very close to realizing or coming into the last leg of her plan, and by the end of the premiere, that plan is upended. I think that was very much a conscious [decision to say,] ‘Okay, now we’re going to get to see how does she respond to this antagonist.’ That tonal shift of something coming at you and upending everything that had carefully been put in place over decades … that was something we were looking forward to putting in motion as an inciting moment of the series.”

As far as twists go, this one sure makes Valya and her Sisterhood’s plans all the more complicated. With the royal match destroyed and a potential new enemy acting as the Emperor’s right-hand man, the Bene Gesserit now face an uphill battle to pull off their machinations from the shadows. We’ll see how that fares as new episodes of “Dune: Prophecy” drop on HBO and stream on Max every Sunday.