Jessica Barden recently delved into playing young Valya Harkonnen, future Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit, in ‘Dune: Prophecy.’
“I always felt like I wanted to make my version of Valya uncomplicated,” the actress shared with SFX magazine (per GamesRadar+). “Just who is this person that you meet for the first time, who begins to provide context for an audience that thinks the Harkonnens are completely, irredeemably bad?”
“It’s probably as close to an old-school HBO, indie movie version of Dune. It goes into the backstory of Valya a lot more,” she continued. “And that particular episode gave me context that the Valya I play needs to be completely grounded in the total authenticity of any young person, anywhere in the world, who is like, ‘F*ck this, I won’t accept this. This is what I’m doing.’ It’s a mixture of blind excitement of having nothing to lose. Also she’s maybe a psychopath. It’s like playing Ted Bundy, in a way.”
The upcoming prequel to the ‘Dune’ films looks into Valya Harkonnen’s life, as Emily Watson leads it as the older version of the character. The story set the foundation for the future powerful matriarchal order of the Bene Gesserit.
House Harkonnen loses a major conflict among the universe’s family Houses over ‘thinking machines’ and gets banished along with the said technology. Barden’s young Valya focuses on reclaiming her family’s influence in the show that takes place 10,000 years before Paul Atreides’s birth.
The cast features Olivia Williams as Tula Harkonnen in addition to Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Aoife Hinds, Travis Fimmel, Jade Anouka, Chloe Lea, and Chris Mason.
