'The Penguin' And 'Dune: Prophecy' Are Becoming HBO Originals After All
Max is bleeding its originals after having already “lost” 'Lanterns', 'Welcome to Derry' and 'Harry Potter'
Well that was a quick change of heart. Just a couple of weeks ago, Warner Bros. Discovery deployed a change in strategy that saw them shift what were three upcoming Max originals, Harry Potter, Lanterns, and Welcome to Derry to become HBO Originals, securing a linear home that of course still leads to a Max release at airtime like all HBO originals have. Now another pair have joined them in The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy, speeding up the practice to begin this fall.
Casey Bloys, the Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content explained the philosophy change with the first movers last month, saying, “We felt like we had to delineate between an HBO show and a Max show,” of that initial distinction before elaborating on the change “The idea of using Warner Bros. IP as a delineation for Max felt right. At least that gives you a clear lane. But as we started producing those shows, we were using the same methods, the same kind of thinking, as how we would approach HBO shows. In a lot of cases, the same talent that has worked on HBO shows.” He continued “What we ended up with is shows at this scope and scale that look great, and great narratives and talent we’ve worked with,” Bloys added. “The idea of the delineation kind of started to feel unnecessary. Like, why are we doing this? Let’s just call them what they are: HBO shows.” However, he had originally claimed that the practice could only start with 2025 originals, with Bloys explaining “We will start in 2025, although The Penguin would be an obvious fit as an HBO Original. Unfortunately, the process of licensing it internationally has already started.” It’s now apparent that something changed allowing the fit to happen after all.
The Penguin, the spinoff of Matt Reeves’s 2022 The Batman film had just released a second teaser the week before the first moves. It stars Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, The Penguin, reprising his role from Matt Reeves’s The Batman, as he seeks to take advantage of the power vacuum left by the death of Carmine Falcone. The series also stars Cristin Milioti and Michael Zegen as the Falcone children Sofia and Alberto, as well as Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Michael Kelly as Johnny Vitti, Rhenzy Feliz as an undisclosed main character, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, Daredevil’s Deirdre O’Connell, as well as James Madio, Theo Rossi, Scott Cohen, and Carmen Ejogo all in still-undisclosed roles. The series is executive-produced by Reeves, Farrell, writer and showrunner Lauren LeFranc, Dylan Clark, Bill Carraro, and Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes.
Dune: Prophecy, a prequel to the current run of Warner Bros. Dune films starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya was one of Max’s oldest-developing originals, being ordered in 2019 as Dune: Sisterhood when HBO Max was gathering its first crop of originals prior to its 2020 launch. However, while it hasn’t had to undergo major conceptual overhaul like Lanterns, there was a lot of turnover in the casting, writing, and showrunning while navigating both the pandemic and the dual strikes.
From Legendary Television, the series is set 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, claiming Sisterhood Of Dune, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson as its source material. It follows 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. It stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May, Mark Strong, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Josh Heuston, Chloe Lea, Jade Anouka, Faoileann Cunningham, Edward Davis, Aoife Hinds, Chris Mason, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Jihae, Tabu, Charithra Chandran, Jessica Barden, Emma Canning, and Yerin Ha. Alison Schapker serves as showrunner and executive producer. Diane Ademu-John, one of those who departed as showrunner, co-developed the series and is an executive producer. Anna Foerster executive produced and directed multiple episodes including the first. Jordan Goldberg, Mark Tobey, John Cameron, Matthew King, Scott Z. Burns, and Jon Spaihts executive produce with author Brian Herbert, along with Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert as executive producers for the Frank Herbert estate. Anderson serves as co-producer.
The first teaser was finally released in May. While its aesthetics might be a little outdated with the Max stuff, it’s still worth sharing. Dune: Prophecy premieres this Fall while The Penguin has been more specifically revealed for September on HBO and Max. Sharing the news on Threads, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn gave a 🙌🏻 emoji.
Source: Deadline