This week , Dune : Prophecymoved deeper into its exploration of the Sisterhood thatwill finally becomethe Bene Gesserit , even as a mysterious Modern foeman flexes an even more mystifying new big businessman against them . The older multiplication — especially Emily Watson ’s Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen — are active mover in the drama , but the young women who are in education at the Sisterhood ’s school have , so far at least , been keep an eye on from the sidelines .
What lies in advance will be revealed over the next four episodes , but in the Wake Island of “ Two Wolves , ” which saw yet another tragedy befall the Sisterhood , io9 got a chance to talk to Aoife Hinds ( who plays the pious Emeline ) and Faoileann Cunningham ( the rebellious , skeptical Jen ) about what it ’s like play sci - fi nuns - in - training on the HBODuneprequel .
Cheryl Eddy , io9 : So far we ’ve memorise just a little bit about Emeline and Jen ’s backstories . How much detail did you get about them ahead of time , and did you do any of your own research to help shape your characters ?
From left: Aoife Hinds as Emeline; Faoileann Cunningham as Jen. © Attila Szvacsek/HBO
Faoileann Cunningham : It was a constant conversation . The creators on this story are incredibly generous and obviously they have done [ a huge ] amount of inquiry ; generally they were amenable if we had ideas start forward about what things looked like or questions we also had of , like , the person experiencing something within the bit . It was perpetually evolving and just generally , there was a lot of trust going on in both directions of , like , sometimes very , very clear pieces of information that were very important — and sometimes just letting it subsist equivocally and act things off in lots of different ways also .
Aoife hind : We had these conversations with [ showrunner ] Alison [ Schapker ] before we started shoot , about our characters and where they ’d come from and why they ’re [ joining the Sisterhood ] . But it was all quite unstable and flexible . And also we could go to her for any question we had because she ’s just so knowing — she is aDuneencyclopedia . That was so brilliant to have , and I think that ’s exactly what we needed .
io9 : SinceDune : Prophecyis a prequel , did knowing that the Sisterhood would eventually germinate and grow — and not in fact be wipe out , as they fear it will on the series — facilitate inform your performances ?
Jen and Lila (Chloe Lea). © Attila Szvacsek/HBO
Hinds : The idea that they ’re going to become the Bene Gesserit is [ certain , but also undefined]—we have no mind when it ’s go to happen , and we do n’t know how close we are to it , and we do n’t know who ’s become to initiate it , or who it ’s work to come from . … All this , I believe , is something that we could kind of establish on , just these young woman coming to this Sisterhood school and not even knowing much about what they ’re go to discover . piece by morsel , as they learn , as they get there , they see how recondite it go and how the training will change them mentally and physically . And that will then naturally develop into something else . Definitely also with the Sisterhood maybe amount under threat , that ’s survive to inform the respite of what ’s going to happen .
io9 : Emeline and Jen have divergent viewpoints on faith , with Emeline being deep spiritual , and Jen being more of a rebel . Can you tattle about the contrasts between your characters and also what common ground they apportion ?
Cunningham : The vernacular ground is the contention of [ how ] everybody desire to be ahead of the other somebody . It ’s that affair that come about when you ’ve got [ a group of ] people who are really challenging and all clearly really smart in different shipway … Also , I think there ’s a common ground [ in ] that they ’re curious about the people that hold the power and the delivery of the pedagogy , as it were , and what the course syllabus is . I opine they ’re all curious in their own direction .
Jen and Lila (Chloe Lea). © Attila Szvacsek/HBO
Hinds : They come from very different background . Jen is very intellectual , in compare with Emeline , who ’s very spectral — at the beginning , that has them in enemy a second and they do n’t really quite get each other and where they ’ve come from … But they kind of do n’t have much pick but to ally themselves together [ especially after what ] find in episode two [ when Lila die ] , as well as at the end of episode one [ when Kasha die ] . I think they ’re kind of like , “ We have to get to the bottom of this together . ”
Cunningham : It takes a forcible metaphor in the anatomy of Lila because [ she ’s ] basically a nestling , and we both have very strong views about the potential way you could elevate that child , and the potential that you open to them in the world . And then we conjointly lose that chance … we suffer that physical somebody in a bunk layer next to us . Whatever elbow room they respond to that , they ’ve experienced that together . And that ’s going to always be , you might not agree on what the version of the story of losing that was , but you have lost that matter together .
io9 : Can you describe their feeling at the moment when they witness Lila ’s end ?
© Attila Szvacsek/HBO
Cunningham : stupor , I think really … Jen cognise that something bad would happen , and [ Emeline ] was conceptualizing going , “ Yeah , nerveless , you know , give up your biography . ” But like when you see someone die , it ’s just a different thing , ripe ? And it ’s just happening there and then and it ’s in the present tense . As we get further into the time of year , patently you have the unfurling of [ that ] grief [ and the ] PTSD from being traumatic .
Hinds : Definitely , shock absorber . And when we were filming that scene , there were these feelings of guilt feelings come to the open because of what [ Emeline ] said to Lila — and how really [ those feelings of guilt are ] self-contradictory to anything that she consider . It was really interesting to flirt , that sort of matter tugging at bottom of her of “ that ’s awry , something ’s wrong . ”
Cunningham : And we ’re impart with quite a complicated post , because what they sound out they were set out to do as a Sisterhood — the ultimately very confusing part is that we knew that they wanted to put [ Lila ] through this to get some answers from our foremother . They have achieved that , but she has die as the collateral . So there ’s also this twofold affair that we ’re like , “ What the hell does the Sisterhood know about what you’re able to gain from the Agony or whatisthe information that they ’re looking for ? ” There ’s that part of it that ’s also opened up , I think , very much forward from this point .
io9 : Would you say , without mishandle anything , that audience will have a unlike point of scene on your graphic symbol by the end of the time of year ?
hind : Yes .
Cunningham : Yeah . I think they ’re just gon na have to flog in .
New installment ofDune : Prophecyarrive Sundays on HBO and Max .
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