Emmy Award-winning director Johan Renck (HBO’s Chernobyl) is set to direct the first two episodes of the prequel series Dune: The Sisterhood. 

Serving as a prequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, The Sisterhood (which is still a working title) was handed a straight-to-series order in 2019 by HBO Max. At the time, Villeneuve was set to direct the pilot episode; Renck is now taking over that duty and is on board to executive produce. Diane Ademu-John (The Haunting of Bly Manor) has also taken over as writer and showrunner from Jon Spaihts, the latter of whom chose to focus on writing Dune: Part Two – the film sequel is set for a 2023 release.

Dune: The Sisterhood is set 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides and follows the Harkonnen Sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit.

Renck previously directed pilots for Vikings and Bloodline, as well as several episodes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. He is currently in post-production for the Netflix sci-fi feature Spaceman, about an orphaned boy raised in the Czech countryside by his grandparents, who overcomes all odds to become the country’s first astronaut. The film stars Adam Sandler, Paul Dano, and Carey Mulligan.