HBO's Dune: Prophecy offers fans of Denis Villeneuve's Dune films a glimpse of the backstory for the popular movie series. Drawing from The Great School of Dune trilogy but set after the events of those novels, Dune: Prophecy will soon be returning to HBO Max for Season 2. So what do you need to remember about Season 1 before the next season arrives?

What is Dune: Prophecy?

Dune: Prophecy is set ten millennia before the events of the Dune trilogy of movies, and just eighty years after humans formed an alliance that allowed them to prevail over their extermination by the thinking machines, an artificial intelligence that attempted to eradicate humanity. (The war against the thinking machines is a primary reason there's so little evidence of computers as we know them in the Dune series.) Bene Gesserit Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) and Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams) attempt to maintain the influence and power possessed by the Sisterhood, so as to ensure they can continue to push back against the forces that threaten the survival of humanity.

Beyond the Sisterhood, one of the core characters in the series is Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a soldier in the Imperial Army with mysterious powers. His desire to protect the Imperium sets him in opposition to the Sisterhood, whom he believes to be a true threat to Imperial power.

How does Dune: Prophecy Season 1 end?

In the Season 1 finale, Valya sensed an unknown person implanted technology inside Desmond, but spared his life when Tula revealed his parentage: Tula is his mother and Orry Atreides (Milo Callaghan) his father. Valya realized that some hidden force has recognized Desmond's potential - namely, that a child that mixes the Atreides and Harkonnen bloodlines could possess extraordinary power, something that Dune fans have seen in action courtesy of Paul Atreides in the original Dune trilogy. Despite her actions, Tula ends up arrested by Desmond's guards. 

As this is happening, Valya, Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason) and Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) flee the planet of Salusa Secundus, which is falling further under the rule of Empress Natalya (Jodhi May), and land on Arrakis. For fans of the Dune movies, the combination of an Atreides and Arrakis is something with no small amount of meaning for the future.

As if all of this isn't enough, the episode also features the suicide of Emperor Javicco Corrino to prevent his own assassination at the hands of the Sisterhood, a purge of disloyal elements of the Sisterhood to cement Valya's rule (and, in the process, set up potential civil war in the near future), and a future vision in which Desmond was swallowed by a sand worm. 

Suffice to say, a lot happened in the final episode, setting up an even more tense second season.

Season 2 of Dune: Prophecy is slated to arrive on HBO Max in late 2026, although no official release date has been announced as of writing.

Face your fear, and permit it to pass over you and through you with our key guides to all things Dune:

• Dune: Part Two's ending explained,
• All the Dune sequels and TV show prequels that are planned
• Dune watch order
• Before Dune 3, we look over the ending of the book it's based on: Dune: Messiah.
• Which Frank Herbert story Denis Villeneuve believes would make a great Dune: Part Three
• Movies to watch after you've finished Dune
• Sisterhood of Dune ending explained: Understanding the book that Dune: Prophecy was based on

After reading it all, turn to the inner eye to see its path.