Dune: Prophecy – Unveiling the Character of Sister Tula
Dune: Prophecy has captivated audiences worldwide, and we recently had the opportunity to speak with Emma Canning, who portrays the younger Sister Tula alongside Olivia Williams as Mother Tula Harkonnen. As the younger Tula, Canning faced the challenge of embodying Williams’ essence while also contributing to the development of the Harkonnen narrative.
“We got to talk, myself and Olivia, about Tula, the family, and her place within it. And Olivia is the youngest child, so she was able to speak to what it is to be the youngest sibling in a larger family. So, that was interesting and insightful in a way that I hadn’t expected– just kind of, it was very happenstance, you know, that, that’s just her lived experience. I’m the eldest, and I have a younger brother. So, quite a different dynamic.”
Canning’s inspiration didn’t solely stem from Williams; she noted that actress Jessica Barden, who plays the younger Sister Valya, also significantly influenced her performance on set.
“You know, Jessica Barden is this incredible actor. She’s had an amazing career and is having an amazing career. You know, she’s so experienced; she’s worked kind of all over the place with so many different people. So that element of just like, I really admire you as a person. And at the end of the day, I will defer to you for the answer to this question on set or, or like, just, yeah, just small, small things that really then informed, I think how I as Emma look to her. It was very easy then for me to just kind of transfer that deference into our work together.”
In preparing for her role, Canning delved into the previous scenes completed by Olivia Williams before her own arrival on set. This research was instrumental in crafting her portrayal of the younger Sister Tula.
“I had been listening to podcasts of her speaking because I’m Irish, she’s obviously English, and we’re speaking with an English accent. So it was really useful to have a very specific accent and voice to listen to and then watch the dailies of her and just observe, you know–what did I notice? What was her tempo? Her physicality. […] And I let that be something I return to if I felt a little lost or unsure when I was filming. I just think back to watching that footage and pick a specific thing that I remember noticing. And that kind of anchored me.”
Emma Canning reflects on how her character’s experiences in Dune: Prophecy differ from the extravagant advice given to Zendaya by director Denis Villeneuve—encouraging her to embrace “sci-fi shit.”Canning describes her role as profoundly human, centered around relationships rather than the broader sci-fi narrative.
“I think I was lucky in that I didn’t have too much jargon– It was all very human, you know, the scenes or the relationships I was having. So it was quite grounded, and I think probably the most sci-fi element from my kind of experience of this job was the stakes, you know, they’re really high, and they’re not very, you know, grounded in our day-to-day. So, just understanding that you know, in the world of Dune, you would avenge your brother, and you would actually want to avenge him even further and kill more than just one person. And kind of letting that be very true and just like a fact of my life.”
In *Dune: Prophecy*, Sister Tula’s character becomes pivotal as she grapples with family injustices against the Atreides. Canning’s performance reached a notable peak in episode 3, where her portrayal deeply influenced the storyline, demonstrating the gravity of her actions and their ramifications on both younger and older Tula.
Finally, we explored the emotive influence of music in Canning’s process of becoming Tula. Renowned composer Hans Zimmer’s score, known for its haunting soundscapes, brings a unique atmosphere to the *Dune* series. Canning was drawn to a specific song that helped her immerse in her character.
“100% there was a song, and because I don’t search out music, it’s not something like, how do you search for the song you need? [It’s] very Harry Potter, ‘the wand chooses the Wizard.’ So I listen to music lots anyway. And, I was listening to this song by a band called Flight, who I had listened to their previous work before, and I think Florence Pugh–Dune connection here–had done a video on YouTube with them singing a new song of theirs called “Tough Love.” And in the, in the actual release, it’s an artist called Laura Marling who sings that part and whatever it was about, both the lyrics, but also the just the sonic kind of tone of it really helped me tap into this feeling of loving something or someone. It being only difficult but being love and that was a song that I listened to sort of as an anchor, and you know, if between a setup, I just needed to take some space or just needed to kind of, I think refocus myself. I’d listen to it.”
Emma Canning’s remarkable performance as Sister Tula continues to resonate, and the series has already been renewed for a second season, promising more exciting developments in the Dune universe.
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