Dune: Prophecy star says she was immediately sold on the sci-fi spin-off show for one reason: “Space nuns that are evil and have sex? This is completely me!”

Dune: Prophecy star Jessica Barden reveals what drew her to the spin-off series – and it’s a pretty good reason. 

“I was a huge fan of the [latest] movies. That was how I was introduced to Dune,” Barden tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Wicked on the cover and hits newsstands on November 1. “I love Charlotte Rampling and that scene in the movie with Timothée Chalamet I thought would be the coolest thing in the world to act. So when Alison [Schapker, showrunner] called me, I was like, ‘This is exactly my thing. Space nuns that are evil and have sex? This is completely me!'”

Barden plays a younger version of Valya Harkonnen, the character played by Emily Watson. Set 10,000 years before the events of Dune, Prophecy follows Valya and her sister Tula (Olivia Williams) as they take on forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the all-powerful Bene Gesserit. As Harkonnens, Valya and Tula are ancestors of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, played by Stellan Skarsgård in Denis Villeneuve’s movies.

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Dune: Prophecy releases on HBO and Max on November 17 and Sky and NOW on November 18. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Wicked on the cover and will be available from Friday, November 1. 

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