Emmy Award winner Johan Renck will replace ‘Dune’ film director Denis Villeneuve, who exited the HBO Max project due to scheduling conflicts.
Johan Renck, the Emmy-winning executive producer and director of Chernobyl, has been tapped to direct the first two episodes of HBO Max’s forthcoming Dune prequel series, Variety reports.
Renck will also executive produce the series, which now has the working title Dune: The Sisterhood. Dune director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve was originally set to direct the pilot, but ran into scheduling conflicts between the series and the feature sequel to Dune.
A joint production between HBO Max and Legendary Television, Dune: The Sisterhood takes place 10,000 years before the events of Dune. The story is centered around the Harkonnen Sisters, who “combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit.”
In addition to directing all five episodes of Chernobyl, Renck has worked on such shows as Vikings, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead. He will also serve as executive producer of Dune: The Sisterhood, alongside Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Scott Z. Burns, Mark Friedman and Matthew King, and Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert (on behalf of the Frank Herbert estate). Kevin J. Anderson will co-produce.
Diane Ademu-John will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer of the prequel series. She recently worked as executive producer and writer of Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, and has also worked on such shows as Fox’s Empire and NBC’s Crossing Jordan.