The reunion between Evgeny and his niece Valya is unsurprisingly hostile. Evgeny still blames Valya for the death of Griffin and the downfall of the family — despite her attempts to elevate their name with a Truthsayer and a spot on the High Council. Valya eventually gets her way, allowing Evgeny to die of natural causes and using Harrow as a puppet for the family and Sisterhood’s benefit. Mark Addy and Edward Davis sat down with CBR to talk about the fatal events that cast a dark shadow on House Harkonnen’s legacy… again.
CBR: Mark, Evgeny and Valya are two sides of the same coin. They’re both very stubborn and want to elevate the Harkonnen name. They just have different ways of doing it. Yet Valya is alive and Evgeny isn’t. Do you think he would have had a different fate if he had been more like her?
Mark Addy: Possibly. He lays the blame for a lot of the Harkonnens’ woes firmly at Valya’s door because of decisions that she made. He blames her for the death of Griffin Harkonnen, the blue-eyed boy who was going to lead the house forward. Tula, interestingly, gets off scot-free in Evgeny’s eyes because of her character’s nature. She’s not a hothead loudmouth and not as strident as Valya is. Valya, therefore, gets the sharp end of the stick. He’s allowed that bitterness with her to fester for the 30 years she’s been away.
Of course, when she decides to return, nothing’s changed. She’s straight back in the firing line again. But she gets her revenge. He sticks by his guns to the end. She chooses to allow him to die, gasping for air on the floor in front of her. Her own uncle!
Why is he so passive about his family’s low status? Does Evgeny just think the past is the past and there’s nothing he can do to change it? Or does he truly believe House Harkonnen committed a crime in the thinking machine war?
Addy: No, they always say history is written by the victors, and the Atreides lied about the Harkonnens. The Harkonnens were consequently banished to a hideously cold planet trying to make the most of the whale fur, which has gone out of fashion anyway these days. [Laughs.]
But I think he genuinely lays the blame for all their woes at Valya’s feet. Griffin was destined to be the golden boy. He was going to lead us back into the Imperium. They were going to be a big success again. His death crushed Evgeny and that’s why he’s still bitter.
Harrow standing up against the Emperor was a truly risky move. But Princess Ynez did the work for him, accusing the Imperium house of Pruwet Richese’s murder. Edward, do think he would have gone through with the accusation if he hadn’t been interrupted? He did look like he was hesitating.
Edward Davis: I think he would. That hesitation is to be expected, because it’s a huge accusation to make. He knows as well as anyone that the Harkonnens have nothing to lose. They only have something to gain. The worst that could happen is they can’t come to court anymore. He’s been led to believe that he’s backed by these other barons, who’ve come and welcomed him into the high council. He also has Valya by his side. He believes that he’s got more legs to stand on than he did before.
But his belief is very fragile, so that when it all falls apart and Desmond then proceeds to burn a bunch of people, he’s mortified. He just goes back to hibernate until we basically see him next. I think he would have done it, but he would have been utterly terrified to do it.
How doe Harrow’s standing look after the events of Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 4 and the deaths therein?
Davis: Well, he completely screwed up his first opportunity to be Mr. Big Politician at Landsraad. He’s also lost his great-uncle, who was more of a burden than anything else, but he is family. He’s kind of at rock bottom. But that might be the best place to start for Harrow. I think it might be the spur that he needs.
Also, I think even if he doesn’t know, he suspects that Valya is involved in Evgeny’s death. He’s just seeing the Harkonnens for who they really are, finally. He’s seeing that he can be one of them. It’s a good diving board.
Mark, you have this amazing look in Episode 4 — the Harkonnen look that fans are familiar with in the Dune films. How did the hair and makeup add to your performance?
Addy: It was about a three and a half, four-hour job to transform me into the older Evgeny. By the time you’ve got everything on with contact lenses in, you look like a completely different person. When you put on the costume as well — which is kind of really weird leather that could well be whale skin — it allows you to kind of inhabit that person in a more complete way. There are elements of the Harkonnen look that are going to progress in 10,000 years. We still got a little bit of hair left back in those days, and we’re not quite as pale and ill looking, but you can see the start of it.
It was nice to show an audience a little bit of the genesis of the history of the Harkonnens, and that they are a little bit more human in a way. You see a domestic scene where they’re having dinner. They’re having an argument as well, but it’s the Harkonnens at home. It was quite nice to play. You’re always aware that down the line, things are going to get so much worse for them, in terms of who they become. We’re showing the seeds of that Harkonnen style, if you like.
Dune: Prophecy airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. on HBO.
