Why Max’s Upcoming Dune Series Isn’t Running a Trailer in Front of Dune: Part Two Box Office Hit

Dune: Part Two is dune big business at the box office thus far. So why isn’t Max putting even a teaser trailer for its upcoming Dune: Prophecy prequel series in front of those many engaged eyeballs?

In just its first six days of release, Dune: Part Two (starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson) has passed the $100 million mark domestically and the $200 million mark worldwide, exceeding expectations and putting it on track for an eventual $600 million to $700 million haul.

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Yet those trekking to the Cineplex to sate their appetite for that popcorn bucket all things Dune are not being teased with any sort of trailer for Dune: Prophecy, which is due to premiere on Max this fall.

The reason? “It’s way too early,” a source tells TVLine, noting that the prequel series (which first got cameras rolling in November 2022) is still in production. And with as many as nine months until Dune: Prophecy hits small screens (a specific fall release date has not yet been set), it’s too soon fire up the marketing plan.

Ordered to series way back in June 2019 — before the streamer fka HBO Max had any name, and well ahead of Dune: Part One‘s October 2021 release — Dune: Prophecy is intended to act as a companion series to the Dune films as it portrays the events of the Frank Herbert novels through the eyes of the Bene Gesserit, a mysterious order of women. Drawing in part on the novel Sisterhood of Dune (written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson), the prequel series is set 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides (played in the films by Chalamet).

Sisterhood of Dune: Book One of the Schools of Dune Trilogy

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The cast includes Olivia Williams (Counterpart) and Emily Watson (Chernobyl) as Tula and Valya Harkonnen, two sisters who have risen to power in the Sisterhood, a secret organization of women who will go on to become the Bene Gesserit; Jodhi May (The Witcher) as Empress Natalya, a formidable royal who united thousands of worlds in her marriage to Emperor Corrin; Travis Fimmel (Vikings) as Desmond Hart, a charismatic soldier with an enigmatic past; plus Sarah-Sofie Boussnina (History’s Knightfall), Shalom Brune-Franklin (HBO Max’s The Tourist), Aoife Hinds (Normal People), Chloe Lea (Foundation) and Faoileann Cunningham (The Northman).

Alison Schapker (Altered Carbon, Westworld) now serves as showrunner, ever since a February 2023 creative shift.

“The Bene Gesserit have always been fascinating to me,” Denis Villeneuve, director of the Dune films and an EP on the prequel series, said back in 2019. “Focusing a series around that powerful order of women seemed not only relevant and inspiring, but a dynamic setting for the television series.”

Do you plan to tune into Dune: Prophecy when its hits Max this fall?

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