Warning: SPOILERS for theDune: Prophecyseason 1 finale!It’s a good thingDune: Prophecywas already renewed for season 2 because episode 6 left the Harkonnen sisters in very tricky situations. After learning thatDesmond Hart is Tula’s son(and therefore that she’s been lying to her sister for the last few decades), Valya allows him to live and instead heads to Arrakis with Ynez. Her choice is significant, as she’s already lost the trust of the Sisterhood now that Dorotea is back and brought the truth with her — she even lost one of her most loyal followers,Sister Francesca (Tabu), although in a very different way.
Despite having previously been willing to kill scores of Sisters at Valya’s side in their youth, Francesca could no longer walk Valya’s path when the time came to kill Emperor Javicco. She tries to save his life when he stabs himself in theDune: Prophecyseason finale, but she dies instead when his wife Natalya injects her with the needle originally meant for him. In a fascinating turn of events, her need to put motherhood and her personal family unit with Javicco and their son Constantine is reflected in the flashbacks, which see her elect to help Tula hideherson from Valya and the Sisterhood.
Dune: Prophecy Season 2 Renewed
Ahead of its season 1 finale on Sunday, Dune: Prophecy has been renewed for season 2 by HBO, continuing the origin story of the Bene Gesserit.
ScreenRantinterviewed Tabu ahead ofDune: Prophecyepisode 6, titled “The High-Handed Enemy,” to discuss everything about Sister Francesca. Despite her untimely demise, there is still plenty to mine from her relationship with Javicco, her love for her son, and the juxtaposition of her loyalty to Valya in flashbacks and her decision to turn away from the greater plan in the present.
Tabu Digs Deeper Into Sister Francesca’s Pre-Dune: Prophecy Backstory With Javicco
“Is she actually in love with him? Is she actually playing him till the end?”
ScreenRant: At the beginning of episode 5, Francesca makes a dramatic entrance and immediately establishes her relationship with the Corrinos. How much of her backstory with Javicco are you aware of beyond what we see inDune: Prophecy?
Tabu: That was one of the discussions I was having with Anna [Foerster, who directed episode 5] and Alison [Schapker] because you don’t see Francesca and you don’t see her with Javicco before this. You just see her as young Francesca, so it was left to my imagination and to whatever we decided could have happened.
But there is also a line when she says that they’re the ones who actually manipulated the marriage of the Emperor, and this is what she tells Javicco also. It brings together two universes and all of that. I’m sure that she is in love with the Emperor — not just in love, because they have a child together, that relationship cannot be anything but a very strong bond. Whether you explain it or don’t, I think having Constantine and seeing her with him answers and explains the relationship that you do not see on screen.
Constantine is the mark of what Javicco and Francesca have shared. I would’ve loved to see their love story, but I also think it works better because you haven’t seen it, and you’re left wondering what happened between them, which gives rise to so many more questions. Is she actually in love with him? Is she actually playing him till the end? You are led to believe that she might be playing him, but I think episode 6 answers all those questions.
ScreenRant: On the topic of Constantine, how would you describe Francesca’s relationship with her son? How much does she care about Constantine as an individual versus him as a valuable piece of the Bene Gesserit’s thousand-year plan?
Tabu: I think there is both. She loves him and wants the best for him, and she wants to secure a position for her son. Again, we don’t know whether it’s part of the plan, [and even] she doesn’t know the bigger plan, but she is also using this to secure a position for her son.
Because as a mother, there is no way that she does not feel that her son could have been the Emperor. The actual heir to the emperor is Constantine, but she knows that she’s not going to see him on the throne because of Valya’s plan. I think somewhere [inside], she does not like the fact that he’s just drinking and has thrown away his life with no purpose. She also wants to give him a purpose through the Corrinos because, after all is said and done, they are a family. They are a unit, but she knows that her son is not happy that she does not spend time with him or the fact that the Sisterhood is everything to her.
She understands his issues with the father, and she’s trying to placate him all the time. You also see that Javicco is so much in love with her, so I saw them as a family and as a unit, and she will do anything to secure that. Of course, she will go by Valya’s plan, but she will not go by Valya’s plan on that.
ScreenRant: Valya mentions the art of imprinting to Theodosia, and then we see Francesca convincing Javicco to make their son commander. Is this an example of a successful imprinting?
Tabu: Francesca was brought because she has this power, yes. When all else has failed, and when Alia feels that the Emperor is just going out of their hands and they have no power over him, that’s when Francesca is brought in because she has the deepest and most subtle power of imprinting.
The Emperor doesn’t even realize that’s being done to him, and that’s why when he says, “I could have killed you,” [in episode 6], she says, “You couldn’t have. My imprint wouldn’t have let you.” She does all that, but she still does not do what Valya has asked her to do.
ScreenRant: Francesca talks to Constantine about protecting his sister, and then the first thing he does is get rid of Keiran Atreides. Was that her intention, and if so, why?
Tabu: Everything that she makes Constantine do is going to be part of the bigger plan of the Bene Gesserit to have a Sister on the throne. Anything that’s going to come in the way of that, they’re going to eliminate, so it’s actually part of the plan to protect Ynez.
Valya Is Losing More Than Just Francesca’s Trust In Dune: Prophecy
“I think she also feels very slighted by Valya’s plan, and she has the biggest conflict in the series.”
ScreenRant: We see you interact with Emily Watson, and we know Valya sees Francesca as an important part of the Sisterhood. How does Francesca view her as a leader, and how much would you say she believes in Valya’s plan?
Tabu: These are questions that we all discussed on set, but the thing is, when you see Francesca’s arc and her journey, and when you watch her scenes, there is that question of, “What is greater for her? The Bene Gesserit and Valya’s plan or her love?” I don’t know [the answer].
She knows that she’s important, but she’s also taken aback by Valya’s actual plan to kill the Emperor. I think that’s when she steps back, her feelings for the Emperor take precedence, and she won’t do it. She will not do it. But because she dies, we don’t know what would have transpired between her and Valya. She has not taken Valya’s instructions, and she has not followed her plan, so we don’t know how it would have turned out.
But of course, we know that she was not going to carry out Valya’s plan as it is, in the way Alia has planned it. The beauty of Francesca is that she’s conflicted. She’s important, but she’s all heart. And that’s what you see finally, because Javicco is the father of her son; that’s her [turning] point. When Valya tells her what to do, her only response is that he is the father of my son. “you may’t take that away; you can’t just suddenly bring me in and use me to have this marriage, use me to have this son with the Emperor, and now use me to eliminate him.”
I think she also feels very slighted by Valya’s plan, and she has the biggest conflict in the series.
More About Dune: Prophecy Season 1
From the expansive universe of Dune, created by acclaimed author Frank Herbert, and 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, DUNE: PROPHECY follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit. DUNE: PROPHECY is inspired by the novel SISTERHOOD OF DUNE, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
Check out our otherDune: Prophecyinterviews here:
All 6 episodes ofDune: Prophecyseason 1 are now available to stream on MAX.
