WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for the Dune: Prophecy season 1 finale.

HBO's prequel series possible directions for Dune: Prophecy season 2.

Although Villeneuve had nothing to do with Dune: Prophecy, the series cannot escape the impact that the acclaimed director's two movies have made. In fact, Villeneuve's success with both movies, and hopefully the eventual set up Dune 3 in several intriguing ways. Still, Dune: Prophecy's average 70% Rotten Tomatoes score is an indication of just how difficult the sci-fi source material is to adapt for the screen.

Adapting Dune For The Screen Is An Extremely Difficult Task

David Lynch considers his adaptation one of his biggest career regrets

Before David Lynch took a stab at adapting Dune with his 1984 iteration, Dune was long considered unfilmable. Some might argue that Lynch's attempts to make Dune cinematic only provide further evidence to the point. Even Lynch himself has revealed that he is "proud of everything except Dune," which may be more of a testament to the difficulty of adapting the material into a film than his abilities as a filmmaker, which are obviously numerous. Many of the narrative elements of Dune technically shouldn't work on film, particularly with the high number of peaks in the minds of characters.

The sheer density alone of Dune's plot and story world should theoretically make it unadaptable on screen and shouldn't make for an interesting watch due to how much expository explanation is required for a complete understanding of the source material. Despite all this, Villeneuve does an incredible job of bringing the central elements of Dune to the big screen and making the most accessible form of Paul's origin story to date. As a masterful filmmaker behind the exceptional Blade Runner 2049, Sicario, and Arrival, Villeneuve uses a lot of genius visual language. By comparison, Prophecy is more like what could go wrong with trying to adapt Dune.

Dune: Prophecy Shows How Easy It Is For Dune To Go Wrong

Dune is still dense and full of backstory in an extended serial format

Based on the general consensus of Dune: Prophecy season 1, the first season of the series has just as many hits as it does misses, resulting in a sometimes compelling but often frustrating product. As a standalone series, there is a great deal of information to digest upon initial viewing, which is made even more constricted by season 1's six-episode run. Dune: Prophecy should have arguably at least been expanded into an 8 or 10-episode stretch. Seeing Villeneuve's films certainly helps casual viewers become acquainted with the story world and the Great House dynamics within Dune: Prophecy.

Dune: Prophecy implements the classic Harkonnen and Atreides rivalry, the Imperial rule of the Corrino family, and the origin of the Bene Gesserit's breeding index, all of which are established in the Dune films. It also introduces the intriguing new elements of the Thinking Machines, which were briefly mentioned in Frank Herbert's Dune but did not become a key part of the story until Dune: Prophecy. Prophecy also updates certain elements introduced in Dune, such as the Bene Gesserit's powers and other details rooted in lore. However, it stretches itself a bit too thin in its first four episodes that its episode 6 conclusion, which is nearly movie-length, is ultimately rushed and forced.

How Denis Villeneuve Succeeded With Dune

Both Dune movies focused on the relationship between Paul & Chani

Villeneuve wisely established the core glue that held both of his Dune movies together early on in his first Dune entry. Paul starts having visions of Chani early on in the first film, which drives the entire narrative forward throughout both installments. If anything, both films can be reduced to a sci-fi love story. Villeneuve also refrains from overwhelming viewers with the preexisting lore and backstory and instead focuses on the relationships between the central characters, which start with Paul, his mother Jessica, and his father, Duke Leto Atreides.

Villeneuve also firmly establishes the good vs. evil dynamic in the first movie, which gradually and naturally begins to turn on its head as Paul rises to power in the second film in anticipation of Dune 3. Key elements of the Dune lore, such as spice, the Fremen, and the Bene Gesserit, are also condensed and refined to be easily understood, avoiding slipping into convolution. In these ways and more, Villeneuve made the most accessible version of Dune and with his movies, while Dune: Prophecy sets up more than it could pay off in one season alone, essentially demanding a second season.