Prophecy" episode 1 ahead! Screenwriters Schapker and Ademu-John keep a tight rein on the series' dour tone and bleak visuals that do present flashes of pure sci-fi geekiness, like the premiere episode's Butlerian Jihad clash with the thinking machines paired with Valya's passionate voice-over of how the Harkonnens were branded cowards and banished.

The following review contains spoilers for the first episode of Dune Prophecy, “The Hidden Hand.” The tasks assigned to “The Hidden Hand” seem insurmountable. The premiere of Dune: Prophecy is asked to set up an enormous cast of characters and the relationships between and the conflicts amongst those characters,