Dune (1984) Image : Universal Pictures

HBO Max is still months away from its launch date, but one of the streaming service’s marquee shows—Dune: The Sisterhood, a female-focused spin-off of the 2020 Dune feature film—is already experiencing a shake-up behind the scenes.




Dune’s guiding hand, Denis Villeneuve, is still involved and is still set to direct the pilot for Dune: The Sisterhood. The departing individual is showrunner Jon Spaihts, who co-wrote the Dune feature film with Villeneuve and is still heavily involved with the franchise. In fact, that seems to be the reason why he’s leaving his showrunner position.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story, “Spaihts turned in one draft of a script and a revised outline for the female-focused take on Frank Herbert’s beloved novel. Sources say Legendary TV was not happy with the early work Spaihts turned in and opted to remove him as showrunner on the production so he can instead focus on the yet-to-be formally announced film sequel to the forthcoming Dune feature.”


Spaihts is still one of Dune: The Sisterhood’s producers, along with Villeneuve and multiple representatives of the Frank Herbert estate. THR notes that the HBO Max series is currently searching for a new showrunner—just throwing this out there, but seeing as how the series is set to focus on the mysterious, all-female Bene Gesserit, maybe the network should consider a woman for a gig?

So far, there’s no word on any casting for the series. One thing is certain, however: the star-stuffed Dune is due out almost exactly one year from now—November 20, 2020.

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