'Dune' TV Series Loses Showrunner Jon Spaihts

The Dune TV series destined for HBO Max, Dune: The Sisterhood, is going to need a new showrunner. Jon Spaihts, who wrote the script for the upcoming Dune movie from director Denis Villeneuve, was set to serve as showrunner for the tie-in TV series, but that's no longer the case. Sources claim that Legendary TV was unsatisfied with the work Spaiths was doing on the show, but that doesn't mean the writer's time in the world of Dune is done – he's still slated to pen the Dune sequel.

Warner Bros. and Legendary are all-in on Dune, hoping that Denis Villeneuve's big-budget, star-studded adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic will spawn it's own little entertainment universe. Not only are they carving out plans for a sequel to Villeneuve's film, they're also creating a spin-off TV series called Dune: The Sisterhood. But things apparently aren't going so smoothly behind-the-scenes.

According to THR, Dune: The Sisterhood showrunner Jon Spaihts is out. The reason: "Legendary TV was not happy with the early work Spaihts turned in and opted to remove him as showrunner on the production so he can instead focus on the yet-to-be formally announced film sequel to the forthcoming Dune feature." Spaihts will still serve as executive producer on the series, and the fact that he's still set to write the movie screenplay implies that he has a future in the world of Dune. But that makes his removal from the TV series all the more puzzling.

Dune: The Sisterhood "explores the future through the eyes of a mysterious order of women: the Bene Gesserit. Given abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weave through the feudal politics and intrigue of The Imperium, pursuing plans of their own that will ultimately lead them to the enigmatic planet Arrakis — known to its inhabitants as Dune."

Villeneuve is set to direct the pilot episode, and he co-wrote the Dune movie screenplay with Spaihts. The film is bound to generate a lot of buzz for its impressive cast alone: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian, Stephen Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem. But whether or not that buzz carries over and gets people excited for a sequel and a TV series remains to be seen.

The Dune movie will arrive November 20, 2020. No premiere date has been set yet for Dune: The Sisterhood.