This series uses material from the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. A prequel to the original Dune, it tells how the Sisterhood of Rossak evolved into the Bene Gesserit.
The incident with Valya Harkonnen using voice is from one called 'Mentats of Dune'. All three books interweave the development of the Sisterhood, the Mentats, the Navigators and the Suk Doctors.
This series takes place about 10,000 years before the events of the first Dune book/the birth of Paul Atreides.
The drug Inez and Kieran indulge in during their night on town in first episode is possibly "Semuta", mentioned in several books in the Dune series. A narcotic made from the elacca wood tree of the planet Ecaz, Semuta is described as "timeless, sustained ecstasy". The drug's effect is further enhanced by a-tonal sounds which stimulate the brain and are referred to as "semuta music".
Emily Watson (Valya Harkonnen) and Olivia Williams (Tula Harkonnen) have been good friends for decades and even share an agent. They met in their 20s while working at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre but had never worked together before the series.
Deadline announced in February 2023 that the series, which started production in late November 2022, was put on hold due to undergoing a creative shift, a director change and a recasting. Executive producer Johan Renck, who had signed on to direct the first two episodes, exited the project. Shirley Henderson, who had been tapped as one of the leads, also left and her role as Tula Harkonnen would be recast. That is in addition to creator Diane Ademu-John, who had written the pilot script, stepping down as co-showrunner in the run-up to production, with veteran TV writer-producer Alison Schapker becoming sole showrunner of the series. Deadline said they were hearing conflicting views on the hiatus. While sources close to the production insisted there had always been a plan to stop filming for the winter months, others indicated that production had been pushed by seven months to give Schapker and her team time to put their creative stamp by reworking the scripts as well as to find a new director.