The enigmatic soldier Desmond Hart is just one example of where Dune: Prophecy is completely overlooking opportunities to explore concepts from the books. The same goes for another group besides the Bene Gesserit that has yet to be done justice in any adaptation. While some of this disappointment might be based on fan theories, said theories only highlight the many narrative avenues that the show has failed to take advantage of.
Dune: Prophecy’s Big Reveal Wastes a Major Opportunity
In the penultimate episode of Dune: Prophecy, part of the truth behind the mysterious Desmond Hart is revealed. Since the show’s first episode, the nature of the character has been held tightly under wraps, with his deadly power allowing him to resist even the similar abilities of Valya Harkonnen of the Bene Gesserit. To uncover the truth about him, Valya manages to get a sample of his blood after a truly taxing display of his seemingly psychic gifts. Giving this potential evidence over to her younger sister Tula, the Bene Gesserit member looks into his genetic history using their databanks.
It’s there that she discovers his true origins, with Desmond Hart being none other than her own son, who was abandoned years beforehand and raised without knowledge of his true ancestry. This is a major twist for the show and explains why the character has such a disdain for the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, but it’s also something of a disappointment for many. Dune fans hypothesized that Desmond Hart and even younger Bene Gesserit member Lila were actually resurrected gholas, which are a sort of zombie-like being from the novels. Introducing this concept now in the series would make sense, especially since, if the upcoming movie is anything like the book, Dune: Messiah will see Jason Momoa’s Duncan Idaho resurrected as a ghola.
Not taking this rather organic route with Desmond or Lila is a major letdown, as it would have utilized one of the better and more esoteric aspects of the books’ lore. It also wouldn’t have been too out of place, as the show is already only based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune in the loosest sense. Thus, putting gholas into the story wouldn’t have gone against canon any more than anything else in the show. Of course, the idea that Desmond Hart was a ghola is something that was only “suggested” by way of fan theories to those who had read the books. There wasn’t that much evidence as to this actually being the case in the series, with Hart’s origins kept fairly mysterious.
It’s still a letdown due to the rather trite nature of Hart’s true ancestry, as it feels fairly predictable when it comes to “twist endings.” It gives the finale a somewhat “clean” way to wrap itself up, but tying up all the show’s loose ends might not have been the best course of action. Along with fumbling this particular thread, there’s the general lack of new plot elements introduced. Dune: Prophecy was the perfect time to showcase some of the weirdest parts of the novels, and the fact that it isn’t exploring the series’ universe more is a shame. This isn’t just being shown with the character of Desmond Hart, however, as there’s another major element of the franchise’s lore that has never really been focused on.
Mentats and More Are Still Absent in Dune: Prophecy
One of the most overlooked parts of the Dune series lore in the movies and TV show would be the Mentat order. This is one of the three Great Schools, with the other two being the Bene Gesserit and the medically-based Suk school. Mentats are essentially human computers, and their existence began after the destruction of the Thinking Machines. With anything resembling sentient computers socially outlawed, Mentats became more important than ever, especially for the Great Houses of the Landsraad.
The story of the first Dune book and its adaptations features two prominent Mentats, Thufir Hawat and Piter De Vries, who work for the Atreides and Harkonnen Houses, respectively. Piter is killed in an assassination attempt meant for Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and while Thufir is meant to survive, he’s never seen (besides short glimpses in crowd scenes) in the second half of David Lynch’s Dune or in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two.
The lack of Mentats in Dune: Prophecy besides one mention of them is particularly perplexing, especially given the show’s timeline. It takes place at a time right after the infamous Butlerian Jihad, with Thinking Machines still feared and despised by society at large. Thus, it makes little sense that Mentats, the replacements of the Thinking Machines, would go without so much as at least one major appearance.
It’s confirmed that they already exist by this point, so they should at least be in some of the ceremonial scenes and perhaps even mentioned by name. True, the show is based on the Bene Gesserit, but given how much precedent the “threat” and hysteria over Thinking Machines is present in the show, other concepts could have also been given the spotlight. This may be saved for later movies, but it could also manifest in other TV shows, if Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO are so inclined.
How Further Dune Spinoffs Could Fix a Dune: Prophecy Mistake
With Dune: Prophecy failing to give screentime to certain concepts in the franchise, it might fall on further shows to achieve this task. The Mentat order had their own books as part of the Dune prequel novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, with these titles and books based on the Suk School being released to coincide with the book Sisterhood of Dune. Thus, there might be a similar “trilogy” of Dune prequel shows, with ones based on the Mentats and the Suk following Dune: Prophecy. This would flesh out the series world, all while lessening the impact of the wait between now and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Messiah film adaptation. It might also tell a more complete story, with different characters from each show appearing in each.
The same could be done for other concepts, such as the Bene Tleilax and the Sisterhood of Rossak, who aren’t in Dune: Prophecy. These groups are similar to the Bene Gesserit in different ways, and their absence in the new show is even stranger than the lack of focus on the Mentats. Another group which is incredibly important but has yet to appear in the Denis Villeneuve “Duniverse” is that of the Guild Navigators. Vital parts of the Spacing Guild, these inhuman-looking beings showcase the more “out there” aspects of the Dune novels, and their strange appearance is one of the few elements done right in the 1984 Dune movie. If the reboot series goes beyond Dune: Messiah, it will have to introduce these characters eventually, so the best place to put them in is a TV show where they can have more than just a little bit of screentime.
