‘Dune: Prophecy’s Princess Inez – “No One Can Stand in the Way of [Her] Plan”

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 1]

The Big Picture

• Collider’s Perri Nemiroff talks with
  Dune: Prophecy
  stars Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Josh Heuston & Chris Mason.
• The trio plays Princess Ynez, Constantine Corrino, and Swordmaster Keirnan Atreides in the show.
• During this interview, they discuss the real-life inspiration for their characters’ backstories, working with screen legends, and Episode 1 spoilers.

Denis Villeneuve‘s cinematic world of Dune may be a tough act to follow (precede?), but the new HBO seriesDune: Prophecy is more than holding its own after Season 1, Episode 1, “The Hidden Hand.” The show has introduced us to a world long before Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) — over 10,000 years before, in fact — with powerful houses vying for power, and a religious sect in turmoil.

In addition to carrying the legacy of this vast universe, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, who plays Princess Ynez, Josh Heuston, who plays Constantine Corrino, and Chris Mason, who plays Keirnan Atreides, along with their other castmates, are tasked with sharing scenes with screen legends like Emma Watson and Olivia Williams. It takes strong performances, dedicated stunt training, and a passion for the material, and this trio has it all in spades.

In this interview, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with Boussnina, Heuston, and Mason to pick their brains on developing backstory for these characters, the real-life inspiration they used for the Corrino family, each of their characters’ goals, and what it was like working opposite their talented co-stars. You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the interview transcript below.

Get to Know the Young Cast of ‘Dune: Prophecy’

Where have you seen these faces before …?

PERRI NEMIROFF: I don’t want to imply that any of you are new to the business, but being on a Dune show in particular is a really big deal, and a lot of our viewers and readers are first going to get to know you through this series. Is there a past project that you worked on that you found coming in handy while making Dune: Prophecy , but then can you also each tell me an acting first you experienced making this show?

JOSH HEUSTON: For me, Heartbreak High, which is another show that I worked on, the throughline between the two is seeing that inner child, and they’re both struggling with their upbringing and that sort of thing. I think connecting with that gave me a good starting place between the two characters. And an acting first, I guess sword fight training. All that fighting technique and all of that. I’ve never really done that before and I really, really enjoyed learning that.

CHRIS MASON: For me, I don’t think I’ve done a role like this before. I’ve been lucky to have a varied career but I feel like this role kind of came at the right time. I’ve had elements in each character. I’ve often played the bad guy and I don’t see Keiran this way. But then an acting first, I think the stunt training, being able to throw yourself into that so much and have the time to prepare. But also, turning up to set and it’s the first time I’ve done scenes with Emily Watson. That’s a pretty good first. And that goes for the rest of the cast, as well. Everyone’s so fantastic. Every day you turn up with something new.

SARAH-SOFIE BOUSSNINA: I don’t think I’ve played a character like Ynez before either. But I’m from Scandinavia, so for me, it’s one of my first big international projects. So, that’s a huge opportunity for me. Just getting to work with all of these people that I admire so much, it’s just been a gift.

I love to hear that!

Another get-to-know-you question that kind of puts you on the spot a little, but I love knowing this about people. What’s your favorite movie of all time?

MASON: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

HEUSTON: Good answer!

I respect that.

BOUSSNINA: Mine is Edward Scissorhands by Tim Burton. I love Tim Burton, and that film I can see any day, any time. I just want to watch it all the time. I love that film so much.

I’m right there with you.

HEUSTON: Mine’s Lord of the Rings, but I can’t pick one. I’m gonna have to just pick all three.

How the Royal Family Inspired the Corrinos

The Dune: Prophecy cast looked to real-life inspiration for their characters’ backstories.

To start to dig into your characters a little bit, I’m always curious to hear about personal backstory work. For each of you, is there any particular detail you developed for your own character that maybe we don’t see or hear about in the finished show, but was still important to you, and we can now see it informing your performance?

HEUSTON: We’ve spoken about this a few times, but I looked at Prince Harry and then Prince Hal, as well, to look at how that would feel being in line but then not being in line, and how that would feel being second, and then the dynamic between the two people. I looked at that and then we looked at the Indian class system, as well, which helped a lot. And then again, the inner child sort of thing. I looked at that because Constantine, with his relationship with his father, the Emperor Corrino, there are lots of times you see him kind of shut down when he gets in trouble here and there. And then you see the shift between his personalities, between his father and then with Ynez. There’s a very different character that comes to the screen, and for me, that was the main part.

BOUSSNINA: We had so many conversations about this because it comes with so many different things, living the life that our characters live. Also, they went through something traumatic when they were really young, as well, that definitely shaped who they are when we meet them in the show. There’s this one thing where we looked at this one scene with Harry and William after their mom died and how they like had to put on that strong face. That’s something that our characters very much have to do all the time because when they are in formal settings, they have to live up to the role that they’re given and they have to be professional. So, internally, there are still so many other things going on that you then see. For them, they use each other to confide in and share living that very secluded, sometimes lonely life, where you can’t trust a lot of people because of your position in life.

HEUSTON: There’s that facade that goes up and you see it a lot, even in YouTube videos with the reference we’re talking about. You can see micro emotions and expressions, but they’re trying to contain everything. And I feel like whether it be a wedding scene or, without giving anything away, another big, grand thing with lots of people watching, you can see that happening across everyone in the royal house. There’s the emotion but then they’re trying to cover it, which I find really interesting.

MASON: For Keiran, it was important for me to find a differentiation from the royal family and the status because the Atreides family are not quite there yet. Voice was a big part of it for me. I had a lot of conversations with Alison [Schapker] about how I can find a way to make him feel more of a man who’s on the street with the real people. His interactions with the Fremen and the people in the spice den and stuff. What he does and who he is when he leaves work was a big thing for me, of what are his true desires and morals?

What Is Princess Ynez’s Endgame?

“She wants to bring power to her house.”

Sarah-Sofie, I’m gonna come back your way because there’s one particular detail from Episode 1 that was really curious to me because I feel like, more often than not, we see a princess basically being forced down a certain path by her parents, and given a particular conversation she has, that doesn’t seem to be the case with her. What is her number one want at the beginning of the show, and does she think that want, if she gets it, will make her happy?

BOUSSNINA: That’s a really good question. I think her number one want is that she wants to go study at the Sisterhood because she does want to live up to her position. She’s proud to be a Corrino. She’s proud to be the heir to the Golden Lion Throne, and she wants to be the future ruler one day. That’s very much how she wants to do things — her way. And that’s one of the reasons why she wants to go there and study — because she looks up to these women. They’re powerful, they’re in control. They are what she wants to be as the future ruler.

Will that make her happy, ultimately?

BOUSSNINA: I don’t know that she thinks about that, to be honest. She wants to be the kind of ruler that she dreams about. I think a lot of people can identify with seeing your parents do things a certain way, and you want to do things a different way. [Laughs] That’s very much how she feels. She wants to bring power to her house, and she wants the Corrino family to be a strong and powerful house, and she thinks she can do that. Also, she’s told that by Kasha. She really feels seen and heard by her saying, in the first episode, “The first time I saw you, I knew.” To have someone say that to you, that lights a fire in you. She’s like, “I’m gonna go and do that!”

Is Constantine Corrino More Than an Imperial Playboy?

Josh, I have the opposite type of question for you because someone in Episode 1 mentions that Constantine is a man with no purpose. Is that perception just an outsider’s view or does he, deep down, have a purpose, and does he know it?

HEUSTON: Constantine has a desire for purpose. And I think where you see him in the early stages of the series, he’s kind of navigating that. He’s still trying to find his feet. He can’t rise to the heights of Ynez, but then he still has ambitions and he still wants his father’s approval and wants respect from not just him, but everyone in the Imperium, because at that stage he has a reputation for being a bit of a playboy and not having ambition and getting up to no good. So, for him, he’s trying to aspire to have something like that, but he hasn’t yet found the path there.

I believe in him.

HEUSTON: I believe in him, too!

I don’t know if I can trust him, but I believe in him.

MASON: Trust no one.

HEUSTON: [Laughs] Don’t trust anyone.

BOUSSNINA: Can I add one thing? For Ynez, because of what they went through as children, that has made her want to be powerful and in control. That’s also one of the reasons why she wants to go study at the Sisterhood, so she can be a strong leader.

Before There Was Paul, There Was Keirnan Atreides, “Swordmaster of the Known Universe”

Chris, I’m fascinated by the role of Swordmaster. Generally speaking, can you define what it means to have that title, and then also, what does having that title mean to Keiran specifically?

MASON: Someone on set once called it Swordmaster of the Known Universe, which I thought sounded pretty cool.

BOUSSNINA: That does sound really cool! [Laughs]

MASON: As far as soldiers go and sword combat, he’s the pinnacle, and the position that comes with that is to be the emperor’s personal swordmaster attributed with training the family and also going to war when that arises, and fighting for the family, too. So, it’s a pretty big title that he’s got, but one that he’s more than capable of dealing with.

What does it mean to him to have earned that title?

MASON: It means a lot. I don’t think it was a surprise to him. I think he knows his talents and from a young age he’s trained to get to that point, and I don’t think any of this is surprising to him.

I love talking about the value of a good scene partner, and in addition to the three of you, you are surrounded by many more. Can you each give me an example of a time on set when a scene partner gave you just what you needed, and it teed you up for success with your own work?

BOUSSNINA: My first day I was so nervous and intimidated because I was doing a scene with Emily, who I’ve always adored. I mean, she’s Emily Watson. And I just remember being so nervous, only to get there and realize that there’s a reason why she’s the best at what she does because she brings it. She’s incredibly talented, but she also elevates everyone that’s there with her and makes everyone bring their A-game, and that means so much coming in not that experience and getting to work with someone like her. And on top of that, she’s just such a beautiful person and creates such a comfortable environment where we feel safe. I didn’t know what to expect, but I just adore her so much.

MASON: There’s not a bad egg in the cast, which is rare in this business. Turning up to set every day and being able to work with great people is amazing. I pick Sarah-Sofie as the scene partner because we have a lot of good scenes together. The amount of times I would turn up to set and we’d have a good idea the scene, but then watching her work and watching her drive the scene made my job so easy because my reactions were so pure to what she was bringing.

HEUSTON: Mine would be Emily, as well. It was the first day of shooting and the first scene being shot and it was Emily and I, and I was like, “This is insane.” So, where you wait before you go on set, I was pacing and just saying my lines to myself [laughs], and she comes over and she’s like, “Oh, hey, how you doing?” And I was like, “Yeah, good.” Anyway, she comes back, like, two minutes later with a tennis ball. So, before walking on the set, we were just playing handball and it got rid of all my nerves. And each time we hit the ball, we’d say the line to each other, and it kind of just got rid of all of that.

MASON; It’s a great scene, too.

HEUSTON: Yeah! It’s the first scene that you see in Episode 1 of Constantine and Valya together. It’s that scene.

BOUSSNINA: Josh actually came the first day of me filming to watch me because I was nervous. You came and you were like, “I’m gonna root for you!” And it was just so nice, walking from the tent to the set.

Don’t Mess With Princess Ynez’s Crown

“Nothing and no one can stand in the way of my plan.”

I promised I’d spoil that particular scene at the end of Episode 1. In that scene at the ceremony, you go through such a range of ways of dealing with Pruitt. You’re playful, you’re protective, and then you call him a little shit, of course. What was it like mapping all of that out, and also how does that speak to the range of things she’s capable of?

BOUSSNINA: That speaks so much to the range and the sides of Ynez. It’s just as you said — she’s so complex. There are so many sides to her. At the end of that scene, when she’s telling him off, is one of my favorite moments because that’s the first time we see this side to her in Episode 1. It just shows us how she’s saying it how it is and basically saying, “Nothing and no one can stand in the way of my plan. I can play the part until a certain point.”

The fact that it goes from her fulfilling her duties as the heir, but still getting engaged to a nine-year-old child, it’s obvious by now that there’s no romantic chemistry between her and Pruitt. This is a political alliance between two great houses, and they’re there on display, playing their parts, but also she’s kind of waiting for it to be over, right? She’s being nice to him and playful in it when he’s fiddling with something and realizing that he brought in a Thinking Machine to the palace, and the shock of that, and also the realizing that, “Okay, everything I’ve planned could potentially be thrown out of the window now by this little shit.” [Laughs]

MASON: She points at me when she says that. She could have picked Josh, but no.

BOUSSNINA: [Laughs] No! But then when she’s shielding him and not really protecting him, she’s protecting going to the Sisterhood. Then, after the whole standoff, being like, “This is too much,” getting out, and then being like, “You’re not doing that ever again.”

Dune: Prophecy is available to stream on HBO Max. Check back with Collider for more interviews with the cast as new episodes drop on Sundays.

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