New Dune TV show earns unwanted achievement for the franchise

The series is a prequel to the epic movies starring Timothée Chalamet

The new Sky Atlantic show, Dune: Prophecy has earned the lowest audience score in the history of the sci-fi franchise after only three episodes.

The series, which began on 18 November, stars Emily Watson in a prequel to the epic blockbusters by Denis Villeneuve, which focuses on the origins of the powerful female clan, known as the Bene Gessirit.

The show is based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune, by Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert, the son of Dune creator Frank Herbert, and also stars Olivia Williams and Mark Strong.

Although the recent big screen versions of Dune, captivated audiences and critics alike, this TV adaptation has failed to do the same.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a 71 per cent approval rating from critics but its audience score is the most damning, currently standing at just 63 per cent.

This score now makes it the adaptation of Dune with the lowest approval rating, throughout its entire history on film and television. The next lowest version is David Lynch’s much maligned 1984 movie, which has 65 per cent.

Even the two miniseries that the SyFy channel made in 2000 and 2003, which cover the first three books, have significantly higher scores, of 74 per cent and 88 per cent respectively.

Olivia Williams as Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen in Dune: Prophecy (HBO)

The six-episode season was greeted with lukewarm reviews upon its debut. Miles Surrey, for The Ringer, wrote: “What we’re left with, then, is a show that reminds you of bigger and better things – and what Prophecy does bring to the equation isn’t exactly revelatory.”

In The Hollywood Reporter, Gayle Sequeira said: “No show whose description entails the term ‘space witches’ should ever be this dull.”

Meanwhile, Charles Pulliam-Moore said in his review for The Verge: “Even though Prophecy sharpens Sisterhood of Dune’s story into a much stronger drama, the show still feels like supplementary reading that might not appeal if you aren’t deeply invested in the larger narrative.”

Emily Watson in ‘Dune: Prophecy’ (Max)

This comes after Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino levelled criticism at Villeneuve’s films.

“I don’t need to see that story again,” he said, on American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast. “I saw [Lynch’s] Dune a couple of times. I don’t need to see that story again. I don’t need to see spice worms. I don’t need to see a movie that says the word ‘spice’ so dramatically.”