WarnerMedia’s still untitled streaming service has given a straight-to-series order to the Frank Herbert inspired sci-fi project Dune: The Sisterhood. The series will be produced by Legendary Television, the same company currently working on the upcoming Warner Bros. distributed Dune film reboot from director Denis Villeneuve.

Dune: The Sisterhood is told through the eyes of the Bene Gesserit, the mysterious order of women who shape (or bear witness to) the events that unfold in the Dune universe. Given extraordinary abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the enigmatic planet Arrakis, known to its inhabitants as Dune.

Villeneuve will be directing the pilot for Dune: The Sisterhood, with Jon Spaihts signed to write the script. The pair of them also co-wrote the screenplay for the film reboot along with Eric Roth. Villeneuve and Spaihts will executive produce with Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert for the Frank Herbert estate. Kevin J. Anderson will co-produce. News of the series is in keeping with Legendary’s plans to expand the Dune franchise to a multitude of platforms.

WarnerMedia’s entry into the streaming wars comes at the same time as they abruptly pull back the reins on the DC Universe. The new service is expected to go into beta release late this year, and is the first streaming service to feature different content at different pay rates for subscribers. The move is widely seen as an attempt to get money directly from the audience.

AT&T bought Warner Bros. last year, and they now have a big pile of debt to pay down, more than 2.5 their current earnings. They’re seeing the idea of bringing their distribution in-house as a good way of doing that. Just a few years into the streaming wars, consumers are already fencing off their hard-earned entertainment dollars by choosing only two or three subscription services at most. Whether this will work out well for WarnerMedia is anybody’s guess.

Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson were both guests on an episode of The Event Horizon here on SCIFI.radio in 2014. To save you the time looking it up, that episode is presented here. Be sure to pause the SCIFI.radio music stream using the handy playback controller at the upper right before listening the episode.

SCIFI Radio Staff
SCIFI Radio Staff

SCIFI.radio is listener supported sci-fi geek culture radio, and operates almost exclusively via the generous contributions of our fans via our Patreon campaign. If you like, you can also use our tip jar and send us a little something to help support the many fine creatives that make this station possible.