Dune: Prophecy is absolutely a must-watch TV series for the fall season!
Viewers can expect to experience it all – the character drama, the music, the cliffhangers, and the futuristic aesthetic. Now that the TV series is officially streaming on HBO, viewers have been gifted with a one-stop-shop when it comes to entertainment. Whether you’re new to the franchise or have been obsessed with it even before the popular movies came out, you’re in for a treat. The magical sci-fi world will transport you to worlds beyond your imagination, and the acting and scenery will captivate you to stay a while. We got the chance to talk with actors Aoife Hinds and Faoileann Cunningham and the two were just as intrigued by how the TV series unfolded before their very eyes, during their first screening.
Photo Courtesy: HBO/Attila Szvacsek
The Knockturnal: I’m going to start us off with, do you think that The Sisterhood has good intentions? It is a little bit of a hard hitting question.
Faoileann Cunningham: Hard hitting question.
The Knockturnal: What do you think? Yes? No? Why? Maybe so?
Aoife Hinds: What am I going to say? I think it depends who you’re asking and I think for me, at the crux of the mission of The Sisterhood – the long term mission of The Sisterhood, is to create a world that is safer and better. So with that, I will just say that. I will not say anything more.
The Knockturnal: How about you [Cunningham]? What do you think?
Cunningham: I think it’s hard, right? Because it’s like anything where you’re looking at something on a personal level and then on a big world view level, right? Because you can have like your personal grievances, but then maybe understand some of the inner workings, or not understand, in the case of our characters. I think we don’t really understand what is happening. So it’s like, we’re at a really contentious point of like – are we thinking there’s a breakdown of safety in the universe, or are we thinking there’s a breakdown of safety within The Sisterhood?
The Knockturnal: I get it.
Cunningham: I guess we just have to be very alert.
The Knockturnal: Well, I am very freaked out by Desmond as a character. His stark looks I think would kind of scare anybody. So how was that on set? Were you just as freaked out by his character?
Cunningham: We don’t meet him really for a while.
Hinds: No, we didn’t see him at all in character because our world is on the different planet. So actually when we saw the first episode, [it] was the first time we experienced it in the heart. And yeah, pretty, pretty, pretty freaky.
Cunningham: I just think it’s interesting because I think it speaks to the world actually, which is something to maybe get your head around, is that like, we don’t have phones. We can’t just like text and be like, “Hey, what’s that guy doing over on that planet?” And that’s part of why I think we become so bonded into having to figure this thing out together. It’s because the information we have is what is happening in front of our eyes. We don’t have further knowledge.
The Knockturnal: Well, what would your advice be as a friend to the Princess?
Cunningham: I’d be like, “Girl, you’re rich – sort yourself out. Get real and get yourself into that ring machine.”
Hinds: Oh, my gosh, that’s so interesting. I don’t know if we’d be like, you know, “Come and join us. Come and join the fun we’re having over here,” you know?
Cunningham: We might try to manipulate her. I think both of us have strong agendas. It depends where you meet us, because I think at the beginning of our training, I think Jen might just disregard her and be like, “We’re so different.” But we get the more versed we become in the thing, that like, it’s actually very important to be able to sit with someone that you don’t understand, to have a greater understanding of the world and yield greater power. So it depends.
The Knockturnal: As a viewer, what was your experience like seeing everything? Because obviously, as you mentioned before, you’re only seeing your scene and then you’re seeing everything else that’s going on. So I’m sure that you guys also to some extent, had the same kind of shock factor at some of the cliffhangers that happened. Tell me a little bit about that experience.
Hinds: Yeah, we were lucky enough to watch the first episode together in a screening room, and when it ended, we just looked at each other and we were just like, “Oh my God.” I think it’s because, you know, as you said, we only know what’s really happening in our storyline. We don’t see the whole kind of scope of it. And then you’re just blown away by the visual, you know – the visual effects and how cinematic it is and with the music, and how epic it is. Yeah, it was really exciting. We were like two giddy girls coming out of the screening rooms to be like, “Oh my gosh.”
The Knockturnal: I could imagine, yes!
Cunningham: We like read the scripts so long ago, really. And you’re just like, “I think that, that was actually joyous,” because you know, there’s so much to take in, in our world, that you have to absorb yourself into what your character would know at any given point. And then it was like, it’s a rare gift, actually [that] you get when you watch something. You’re in black because usually, you know exactly. But you kind of – it had been so long ago, that you’ve almost forgotten it. And then you get to see all these things, like, kind of like brand new. I just think we were very excited.
Photo Courtesy: HBO/Attila Szvacsek
The Knockturnal: There’s some actors who don’t like to watch it back. So would you, if you had the option, would you just prefer to watch it back as you mentioned, or not watch it back if you really had the option, and you were like, “I’m just going to skip the screening.”
Cunningham: You know, ordinarily I’d be like, “I wouldn’t want to see myself on screen at all.” And because I love Dune, I was actually buzzing to see it all put together. When you read this like, it’s overwhelming because you’re trying to map your character’s journey. You’re also shooting out of sequence. There’s a whole mental math going on to really be very particular about where you are in the story. So I actually, for once in my life, really enjoyed sitting down and watching it. And you just are in awe of everybody else. Like I [after] the first time I watched it, I was nearly crying because I was so proud of these beautiful people, you know?
Hinds: No, exactly. Exactly what Faoileann said. It’s like the kind of ok, even if sometimes it’s hard to see oneself, you know, you kind of put that aside because you want to see everyone else’s work that you’ve know they’ve worked so hard at, and you really want to have the payoff of cheering them on.
The Knockturnal: Dune is such a huge franchise. [Faoileann], you’re obviously a fan. I would love to know, did you feel any sort of pressure fulfilling this role because you were like, “So many people are into this.” And if you did, how did you overcome that?
Cunningham: I feel it more now than I did when we were making it – in a weird way. Because I think I’m suddenly realizing like how long some people have waited for these things. I think like, obviously like the book is really – the first book is very, very old, and I think it’s been in people’s lives for a long time. And I think that’s like a really special thing also because, like I was on the tube the other day, right? And I got off the train and there was like a video poster of the thing, and this older man was like to his wife – he was like, “They have a TV series.” And I was watching this beautiful moment pan out. And I was like, “Wow.” I was like, some people have just been with this story far longer than we have been alive. So like, it’s yeah, I don’t know. I don’t ever think these things should be looked at as a burden, because I don’t think anybody’s out to get us, I would hope. It’s a give and take, isn’t it? And it’s just one version and it’s a prequel.
The Knockturnal: True! So you may have more flexibility with that. Well, I’d love to speak about the ASMR because I’m a huge ASMR person, so I would love to know, how is your reaction to sound? Did you get chills? The music is so impactful. I feel like Dune wouldn’t be Dune without the music. And if anything, that’s the part that was maybe even one of my favorite factors about it. What do you think?
Hinds: Yeah, definitely. I think that was something that while we were filming it, I was extremely excited and extremely curious [about] and thinking, “What is it going to be? What is the theme going to be? What is the music going to be like?” And because it really [is] the thing that elevates the whole thing when you’re watching it, you’re surrounded by it. It takes hold of your entire being, right? And having the sound there – it just gives all of your senses its run for its money, right? So yeah, that was one of the things I was the most excited about, was like, “I wonder what the music is going to be like.” And it really, really blew the top off.
Photo Courtesy: HBO/Attila Szvacsek
The Knockturnal: My last question is for maybe the newcomers that are coming into Dune that haven’t, you know, been a part of this franchise for too long. Maybe they joined during the movies. Like, frankly, I joined during the movies, so I’m like a newcomer. But what do you hope that newcomers take away from it?
Cunningham: I think, I mean, for me, I find it really exciting for like my little cousins that are younger girls. I hope that they can watch something where there’s like a bunch of really badass women, you know, written in complexity, to be quite honest. And I think that that’s so refreshing and I want them to be excited about it, and get to chat about it with their friends. And then also as an add-on to that, I think, you know, actually coming to sci-fi much later in my own life – it’s such a like relief, to read sci-fi. And it’s such a relief to watch sci-fi because the suspension of your imagination into these worlds lets you actually really process some pretty big things, you know? And yeah, I just hope that it’s thrilling to watch for people and enjoyable.
The Knockturnal: Amazing. Thank you both so much. I’m so appreciative. Thanks for taking the time out today and I wish you the best of luck with everything. And I’m excited to see how it unveils, so I’m hooked. I’m a fan, even though I’m a newcomer. I am in! Ten toes – locked in. So we’ll see. And I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it just as much – seeing it come to life. Thank you so much ladies. Have a great rest of your day.
Hinds and Cunningham: Thank you!
