Why the Harkonnens are not naked and pale in the sand: Prophecy

Now that Warner Bros. is a proud owner burgeoning “Dune” franchisethey have started the process of brand extension through HBO series “Dune: Prophecy”. Set 10,000 years before Denis Villeneuve's theatrical sensation The Dune and The Dune: Part Two, the show takes place some time after Brian Herbert's Great Dune School novels and examines the origins of the Bene Gesserit sisters. It has a great cast led by Emily Watson and Olivia Williams, boasts extremely impressive production/costume design, and is as dull as dishwater.

Apologies to those who enjoy prequels and origin stories, but they are inherently abominations of a story, with precious few exceptions. Patton Oswalt has a stop titled “At Midnight I'll Kill George Lucas With a Shovel,” which hilariously explained, rudely why that's true, but basically all prequels are just blank space fillers that dramatize things we already know. Yes, there are often strange twists in the backstory that we didn't know about before, but these incidents are nothing more than glorified trifles. This approach to pulp storytelling has become so mind-bogglingly common that it's only a matter of time before we get an entire movie centered around the jeweler who sold Martha Wayne her pearl necklace.

Harkonnen. You're looking for the Harkonnens and why they look very different in Dune: Prophecy than their kin 10,000 years later. Would the simple answer “evolution” quench your thirst for knowledge? I think not. Here's how Harkonnen became the walking, hairless, painfully hairy types they are in Villeneuve's films.

As portrayed by Emily Watson and Olivia Williams in Dune: Prophecy, Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen and Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen are notable for their Caucasian skin color and hair. They couldn't look more different than a very pale and shabby Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), Glossu Raban (Dave Bautista) and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler). Why is this so?

In Dune: Prophecy, the Harkonnens hail from the planet Lankiveil, a cold planet far more hospitable than the volcanic, industrialized Giedi Prime, which orbits a black sun. Such a dark, harsh climate will affect your pigmentation and temperament. As for why House Harkonnen moved to Giddy Prime from Lankievale, that might be featured in Dune: Prophecy at some point, but man, 10,000 years is long stretch (the series actually depicts events in the distant past). It seems like the kind of societal displacement that has been going on for centuries and multiple conflicts. So if you enjoy watching fictional history over (maybe) several seasons of television, I have a feeling your cup of tea is slowly glacier run across. The rest of us will cool our heels and wait for Villeneuve's third film due (hopefully) in 2026.