Dune: Prophecy‘s first episode introduces us to the mysterious Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), cutthroat Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden as a young woman, Emily Watson as the Reverend Mother at the height of her power), and a cadre of charismatic young acolytes studying the mysterious art of “Truthsaying” at the Sisterhood’s academy on Wallach IX. However, the two characters who might just spark the most on screen in the very first episode of the new HBO show are an impetuous princess and her handsome sword master.
We first meet Princess Ynez Corrino (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) and Kieran Atreides (Chris Mason) in a familiar setting for a Dune adaptation: weapons training while wearing force field armor. However, unlike the avuncular vibes on display when Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck trained young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) in Dune, Ynez and Kieran’s workouts are flirtatious foreplay.
**Spoilers for Dune: Prophecy Episode 1 “The Hidden Hand,” now streaming on Max**
We first hear about Emperor Javicco Corrino’s (Mark Strong) heir when her illegitimate half-brother Constantine (Josh Heuston) travels to the Sisterhood’s academy on Wallach IX to negotiate his sister’s impending arrival at the school. It’s whispered that Constantine can be something of a layabout…as in, since he has no official duties, he gets laid a lot. Ynez — or Nez, as friends and family call her — has to be focused on the bigger picture. Still, that doesn’t mean she’s not also focused on how handsome her family’s new swordmaster is.
“I mean, it doesn’t hurt to have a hot trainer.”
Sarah-Sofie Boussnina
As Ynez and Keiran spar in the palace gymnasium, it’s hard not to hear their panting or even see where their swords slip past each other’s body shields and not get a whiff of sexual tension.
When Decider spoke to Dune: Prophecy star Sarah-Sofie Boussnina during a roundtable at New York Comic-Con, she confirmed that intimacy coordinator were on hand for those sequences and anything else with “more physical contact.” She also blushed a little when talking about Nez and Kieran’s bouts in the gym.
“Well, sword-fighting is kind of like Nez’s gym and her trainer is pretty good looking,” Boussnina said, giggling.
“Of the flirtation, I will say I think she really is badass at fighting and she’s good at it. And it’s something that she [does because] she wants to be strong,” she said. “But I think she also, you know, of course, likes flirting with the hot trainer, you know?”
Later on in the premiere episode, Ynez and her brother Constantine journey to a lower level nightclub to have “one last night” of debauchery before she has to marry little Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior) and leave for her years of study with the Sisterhood. To her surprise, Kieran is at the same bar. She soon takes her opportunity to steal away with him and they finally, in the haze of a spice-based drug trip, consummate their romance.
“He finds someone there who he has a true connection with and he sees a heart that he believes has the same intentions as him.”
Chris Mason
When Decider spoke to Chris Mason during a later virtual roundtable, he spoke rather romantically about the couple’s connection: “He finds someone there who he has a true connection with and he sees a heart that he believes has the same intentions as him.”
And I think that’s why their connection goes beyond the physical attraction and becomes something much deeper going forward,” he teased.
Boussnina, however, held herself back from hinting any future developments between the pair when we spoke with her at NYCC.
“I’m not going to give anything away with what’s going to happen next,” Boussnina said. “But I mean she’s training hard because it’s something that she does to empower herself.”
“And, I mean, it doesn’t hurt to have a hot trainer. And I think she likes…the training. She loves the training.”
