Emily Watson, Olivia Williams and Mark Strong lead the cast of a sci-fi drama set over 10,000 years before the events of the Denis Villeneuve-directed movies.

Thus is the age in which we live, where art that doesn't hit its quotas is made to seem like it never happened, but that only makes the arrival of "Dune: Prophecy" that much more peculiar. Here we have another sprawling, strange, science-fiction epic ...

This is a spoiler-free review of Dune: Prophecy's first four episodes. The show premieres on HBO and Max on November 17, 2024, with new episodes airing Sundays through December 22.

While the show can’t match the outsized visual scope of Denis Villeneuve’s films, it does pleasingly approximate those vast alien landscapes, Brutalist edifices and high-ceilinged chambers on a TV budget. For those who find Villeneuve’s formal gigantism oppressive, the series’ more human scale might be another welcome change of fpace.

HBO bets big on this small-screen extension of Denis Villeneuve's 'Dune'-iverse being their next 'Game of Thrones' blockbuster series. Nice try.

Behind every supposedly "great man," there is not just a woman standing behind him, but an entire sisterhood of supernaturally gifted members pulling the strings. At least, this is the case in "Dune: Prophecy,