Summary
Dune: Prophecytakes place in the same world as Denis Villenueve’sDunefilms, but it takes audiences much further back in the timeline than ever explored on-screen before.Dune: Prophecyis set shortly after the pivotal war with the Thinking Machines, which changed the landscape of the sci-fi world forever.
WhileDune: Prophecyis primarily focused on exploring the origins of the sisterhood known as the Bene Gesserit, its place in the timeline opens the door for many other familiar and new concepts from Frank Herbert’s world to be explored. The series is set 10,148 years beforethe birth of Paul Atreides,and 166 years after the end of the great machine wars. While the war is no longer in effect inDune: Prophecythe memory of the conflict is still prominent in many characters' minds.
What are the Thinking Machines in Dune?
Thinking Machines is a term in theDuneworld to essentially describe artificial intelligence. In the years before the revolution, humans created machines and became reliant upon them. However, these machines eventually advanced to the point of being sentient and began being used as a weapon to enslave others. Thisled to the Butlerian Jihad, which is the term used to describe the crusade against the conscious machines which took over a century. This event is what unified the great house in theDuneuniverse as they combined their collective religious views to be one that was simplyagainst man being replaced by machines. The definition of what makes a machine a Thinking Machine is loose, but seemingly refers to any kind of technology that can think for itself and doesn’t require human operation.
Why are the Thinking Machines Important in Dune: Prophecy?
Humanity’s war with the Thinking Machines is something from theDuneworld yet to be explored on-screen, and it’s also mostly skatedover in Herbert’s novels. WhileDune: Prophecyis not set during the Butlerian Jihad, it does open at a time when the universe is still adapting to this new world order. “The characters in our series exist in the shadow of a war against thinking machines and artificial intelligence, which had basically enslaved or subjugated humankind for an enormous period of time,”Dune: Prophecyshowrunner Alison Schapker toldEntertainment Weekly. Schapker continued on to explain that this war almost came at the expense of the human race. “There were casualties on planetary levels, and that does something to individual psyches,” she added.
The series briefly touches on what the great machine wars may looked like with an opening montage that sees a group of soldiers go up against giant AI war machines.“When humans rose up against the Thinking Machines that had enslaved them, history says it was an Atreides that led them to victory,”Valya Harkonnen’s narration reveals in the opening ofDune: Prophecy’sfirst episode. Following the Butlerian Jihad, all Thinking Machines were outlawed.
When humans rose up against the Thinking Machines that had enslaved them, history says it was an Atreides that led them to victory.
The characters inDune: Prophecymake their stance against Thinking Machines clear in the first episode. After Princess Ynez, the daughter of Emperor Corrino, and nine-year-old Pruwet Richese had made their nuptials official, the wedding reception saw Pruwet reveal he owned a small robotic lizard toy. The lizard robot quickly got out of his control and scattered its way through the wedding reception until it wasskewered by Desmond Hart’s knife. The reaction of the group to seeing a Thinking Machine, even one as small and seemingly harmless as the lizard toy, is immense. Corrino eventually agrees to let Pruwet’s transgression slide, but it’s clear this is a society that is still fearful of the near extinction that Thinking Machines wrought on humanity.
Thinking Machines Could Play Big Part in the Rest of Dune: Prophecy’s Season
This divide over AI may be something that eventually has a bigger impact onDune: Prophecy’splot. The Bene Gesserit were initially divided overValya Harkonnen’s desireto continue using the group’s breeding index, which is something that helps them determine which bloodlines should be paired together. Sister Dorotea and Valya eventually came to an impasse over this, with Dorotea imploring the breeding index be destroyed. Valya eventually murders her to prevent this from happening, which suggests perhaps that the index itself uses Thinking Machine technology. If true, this could spell great trouble for Valya and the Bene Gesserit down the line inDune: Prophecy, as their use of AI technology, is a secret they need to guard closely.
