Jodhi May on playing Empress Natalya in Dune: Prophecy

From Frank Herbert’s expansive Dune universe, Dune: Prophecy is set 10 000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, following two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit.

The series is co-produced by HBO and Legendary Television, with Legendary also producing the film franchise that has released two instalments to critical acclaim, with the first taking home six Oscars and second becoming the fourth biggest blockbuster of 2024. 

Inspired by the 2012 novel Sisterhood of Dune, written by Frank’s son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J Anderson, the prequel series stars BAFTA nominee Mark Strong (Shazam!, 1917) and Cannes winner Jodhi May (The Witcher)) as the Emperor and Empress, as well as Oscar nominee Emily Watson (Chernobyl), multiple-award winner Olivia Williams (The Crown), and Critics Choice Super Award nominee Travis Fimmel (Ragnar in Vikings). 

As Mashable writes, “Truly, this is the closest TV has gotten to the idea of Game of Thrones… in space!” 

With new episodes being released on M-Net at 9pm and Showmax at 9:30pm every Monday, we caught up with May to find out more. 

Watch the trailer for Dune: Prophecy

Had you seen the films before starting work on Dune: Prophecy? 

Oh, I was totally a fan before. I’d seen the David Lynch film when I was a kid, and I absolutely loved the Denis Villeneuve films as well. 

What attracted you to the series? 

What attracted me to this particular project was that Alison writes such incredibly complex and powerful female characters. She really is one of the few showrunners out there who is writing strong female roles for women over the age of 35 or 40. Unfortunately, we just don’t see enough of that.

What makes this such a meaty character to play?

We see Natalya facing the challenge of being just the wife or the mother and reacting against that in such an extraordinary way. It’s so rare that we see that kind of character portrayal of a woman who’s trying to find her place once she is over a certain age. It’s a bit Shakespearean. There are elements and tones of Lady Macbeth.

She starts out very much on the periphery of things but plays characters off against each other in order to manoeuvre her way into a stronger position. She’s a little bit more of a politician than her husband is and knows how to broker backroom deals. She knows how to work the protocol of the High Council, and she knows who she needs as tools to serve certain purposes.

Tell us about the power struggle between her and her husband, the Emperor.

She’s feeling deeply frustrated with her husband’s overreliance on the Sisterhood and the fact that that’s emasculated him as a leader. It feels like a marriage that once had love and was built on a sense of joint endeavour and partnership, but it has become a relationship where she’s been increasingly sidelined and estranged from her husband. That relationship changes as the series evolves, and we see how she sets about the challenge of redefining her role within that marriage.

She seems to have a dangerous taste in accomplices. 

Natalya is quite fearless. She is willing to take a gamble on Desmond Hart. I do think there’s something similar about them in that they both have a deep suspicion, hatred, and mistrust of the Sisterhood. Natalya comes from a world rooted in faith and mysticism and belief and intuition. She is all about trusting her instincts. Desmond Hart is dangerous but perhaps there is something similar between them, in that there is this slightly perverse quality about both of those characters.

Are there some elements of jealousy in her hatred of truth-sayers?

She feels they have taken her husband away from her, and there is now the threat that they’re also going to take away her daughter. They have this kind of monopoly on deciding people’s futures and their matches. Her dislike is pretty understandable because they match Ynez, her daughter, with a nine-year-old boy – she’s going to take exception to this.

In a time where we’re racing for resources, how timely is this show?

Frank Herbert touched upon this idea of spice and in many ways it’s similar to the way in which we are exhausting the Earth’s natural resources. The resources are finite. Like petrol, there are conflicts worldwide when it becomes scarce. It’s relevant now because of the climate crisis, and he was really ahead of his time in tapping into that.

What is the benefit of stretching the story out over a series rather than doing another film?

The scale of this production is breathtaking; it’s truly cinematic and epic. What marks it as being different from the other explorations of this universe is that, at the same time as being epic, it’s also incredibly intimate. There’s so much space that’s given in the scenes for characters to breathe. There’s equal importance that’s given to what is unspoken, what’s left unsaid, as well as what the characters are saying to each other. So many scenes are played through looks, through silences. It feels like a real luxury as an actor to explore characters and scenes in that kind of forensic detail. It’s a drama that puts human relationships front and centre, as well as the production values.

HBO has Succession, Industry and more shows about the scramble to get to the top. Why do audiences resonate with that theme?

We’re in a time of such huge social change, and we’re having to confront all of these questions. A lot has happened in the last few years that has challenged institutions, and we’ve had to question some of the values that underpin these institutions. We’re constantly questioning: ‘Who benefits from this? What’s happening in these shifts of power?’

Catch new episodes of Dune: Prophecy on M-Net at 9pm and Showmax at 9:30pm every Monday until 23 December 2024. 

You can also binge Dune: Part 2, the fourth biggest box office hit of 2024 globally, on Showmax from New Year’s Day, 1 January 2025. One of IMDb’s Top 50 highest rated movies of all time, Dune: Part Two is nominated for Best Motion Picture: Drama at the 2025 Golden Globes, among other accolades.