“Dune: Prophecy” mainly focuses on the Sisterhood, a group of women who eventually become the Bene Gesserit (who, by the time of the main “Dune” storyline, use their mind-controlling powers and talent for shaping the religious beliefs of far-flung societies to control galactic politics).

The ancient conflict, known as the Butlerian Jihad in Frank Herbert's books, will be glimpsed in HBO's new prequel series.

The biggest problem is the problem that plagues seemingly all prequels: the fact that no matter how far back in the past the story might go, imaginations can only stretch so far. Once again there is a conflict between the Harkonnen and the Atreides families (the novelty here being the Harkonnens get more screentime),