Australian-born Fimmel, who is best known as Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings and, most recently, Lyle Orlik in Boy Swallows Universe, says he was drawn immediately in when he sat down to read the scripts.
“Obviously, we’ve got the most amazing backdrop with the Dune universe, but this is very character-driven, it’s this one big riddle,” he says. “You don’t know who’s good, you don’t know who’s bad. Every character has their own voice, and I think it’s a really though-provoking series.”
Jodhi May as Empress Natalya and Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco Corrino in Dune: Prophecy.Credit: HBO
Perhaps the most intriguing element of the series is where Desmond Hart fits into it. Landing as a character without a vast literary backstory, his morality and capability are uncertain, though the signs in the first episode are – warning: very mild spoilers – enough to make your hair stand on end.
“I love the mental games that he plays,” Fimmel says. “I love that he takes in everything in the room, and I want people to wonder if he’s a good guy or bad guy. I just love that sort of strategic manipulation.”
Some of it, Fimmel says, is just guesswork when “even the creators and writers don’t know exactly where things are going. So you keep it so you can’t make decisions as an actor. You keep it open, and I like to play with that anyway: the mystery of it, what’s he thinking? What’s his end goal? So if you keep it not too specific, your character can go anywhere at all.”
Exactly who and what Desmond Hart is remains unclear. There is a suggestion his power came from an encounter with a sandworm on Arrakis, one of the planets at the centre of the Dune story, but a long way from Prophecy.
Timothee Chalamet in the film Dune.Credit: Warner Bros.
That could mean he’s an early example of a Kwisatz Haderach; in Dune lore, a male who can unlock certain abilities by accessing the memories of their male and female ancestors. (Dune’s hero, Paul Atreides, is a Kwisatz Haderach.)
The advantage of not having a literary lineage, Fimmel says, is “there is no pressure to copy what’s in the book and keep everybody happy. I love the freedom to make the character your own.”
“My favourite thing about it is just that you’re playing a game,” Fimmel adds. “You’re playing chess, and you might be setting something up way earlier for [what becomes] the last move. And the writing is so good.
“It keeps me thinking, every script I read. How is this going to play? How do I want other people to feel? The whole thing just like a big riddle to me, which I enjoy. And I want to see who’s going to win, like a good boxing match.”
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The television series is not inextricably connected to the storylines of the two Denis Villeneuve Dune films, though it is plainly set in the same universe. That means, Goldberg says, there are certain expectations about production quality, production design and a consistent aesthetic.
“The films were fantastic, and those choices, on all the different levels of filmmaking, they really kind of made it an immersive experience,” Goldberg says. “We aspired to do the same thing on television. So it made sense to strive for that aesthetic.
“[Denis’] way of grounding the story also allowed an epic story to be told in a very intimate way. We wanted to do the same thing with the television show. It’s sort of innately doing that anyway because it’s delivering the story to your living room, and you become familiar with these characters over subsequent episodes. But it’s also the perfect way to tell a chapter of Dune that very few people know about.”
Dune: Prophecy screens on Binge.
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