WarnerMedia has commissioned, Dune: The Sisterhood, as a new straight-to-series science fiction TV drama for its new, to be launched streaming service based on the world of Frank Herbert's novels.
With the small to nothing chance that it's subscription video-on-demand service would be launched and become available in South Africa and across Sub-Saharan Africa as well when it's launched in late-2019 in America, it's not clear whether the licensing rights of Dune: The Sisterhood will end up being available to MultiChoice's M-Net (DStv 101) and Showmax currently carrying HBO content on the continent.
The female-focused Dune: The Sisterhood will be directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Jon Spaihts who are both executive producers, with the series that is produced by Legendary Television.
Dune: The Sisterhood is set in the far-flung future of humanity that colonised the galaxy and is being ruled by an emperor. A mysterious order of women called the Bene Gesserit are part of the galactic body politic and interested in the planet Arrakis (or Dune) that is of pivotal importance.
The Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own for Arrakis.
"The Bene Gesserit have always been fascinating to me. Focusing a series around that powerful order of women seemed not only relevant and inspiring but a dynamic setting for the television series," says Denis Villeneuve in a statement.
Dune was previously adapted for television in 2000 in the 3-episode miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune that was shown on the then Hallmark Channel on DStv in South Africa and later SABC3, along with the follow-up series, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune in 2003.
