After delays and problems with “Dune” prequel: German director of Netflix action hit must save project

In November 2022, after much delay, the shooting of the series Dune: The Sisterhood, a prequel to the films Dune and Dune: Part Two, finally started. At the time, there was hope that the series might be released in November 2023, coinciding with the theatrical release of “Dune 2”. But at the end of February 2023 it was announced that work had to be halted because director Johan Renck (“Chernobyl”) had been fired. According to unconfirmed rumors, he was trying too hard to impose his own style. This threatened the danger that the series would differ visually too much from Denis Villeneuve’s films.

But now a cure has been created. Anna Foster will stage several episodes. She will also shoot the all-important first episode, which usually sets the visual style for the entire series. Most of the material that Renck has already made is going into the trash and now Foerster has to get the project back on track and save it.

Also 2 new stars for the series “Dune” after the delays

Since she’ll probably be starting pretty much from scratch, it shouldn’t be a big deal that two major roles now need to be recast. After Shirley Henderson left the project in February 2023, she became known for “The Crown”, among other things. Oliver Williams now embodying one of the leading roles instead of her. She plays with Tula Harkonnen one of those Harkonnen sisters who, despite all the looming wars, founded the Bene Gesserit community.

Now, as Empress Natalya, in the series set approximately 10,000 years before the events of the ‘Dune’ movies Jodhi May To Be Visible – known from Michael Mann’s western classic “The Last of the Mohicans”, but recently also in the Netflix series “The Witcher”. May, who herself participated in an episode of “Game of Thrones”, succeeds a colleague who is known for the fantasy megahit. Indira Varma, who, in addition to her role as Ellaria Sand in “Game Of Thrones”, also appeared in “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “Human Target”, has run out of time after all the delays and therefore had to reprise her role as Natalya to leave.

Anna Foerster: This is the German director behind “Dune: The Sisterhood”

Even if the two new actresses take on major roles, it’s probably up to director Foerster to finally calm things down and shoot smoothly. She takes the conditions with her.

Anna Foerster, who caught the attention of Roland Emmerich while studying at the Film Academy in Ludwigsburg and went to the USA with his team, mainly directed series episodes before and after her cinema debut “Underworld 5: Blood Wars”. Having worked on titles such as Criminal Minds, Outlander, Jessica Jones, Carnival Row and Westworld, the German director brings a wealth of experience directing a series. Incidentally, she recently made a film trip: for Netflix she staged the action hit “Lou” together with Allison Janney.

“Dune: part twois scheduled to hit theaters on November 2, 2023. When “Dune: The Sisterhood” will be released after all the delays and problems is currently unforeseeable. But it should probably be 2024 at the earliest.