The Rotten Tomatoes score for Dune: Prophecy has taken a turn for the negative. The HBO series is the latest installment in the new live-action science fiction franchise adapted from the classic 1965 Frank Herbert novel which kicked off with Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 movie Dune and his 2024 sequel Part Two. The Dune: Prophecy cast includes Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May, Aoife Hinds, Mark Strong, and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, bringing to life the origin story of the powerful religious group known as the Bene Gesserit.

Now that two episodes from the six-episode season 1 of Dune: Prophecy have aired and more user reviews have been added, Rotten Tomatoes has aggregated a new audience score for the show on the Popcornmeter. While the critic score on the Tomatometer is a Fresh 68%, the audience score has now slipped below the Rotten threshold at 59%. This score comes from more than 500 user reviews, compared to the 75 critic reviews that the platform has compiled.

What This Means For Dune: Prophecy

The Show Has Hit A New Low

Users’ Dune: Prophecy reviews have now earned the show the first Rotten score of Denis Villeneuve’s franchise, either from critics or from audiences. It is also one of the worst scores of the entire extended franchise, which includes David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation and two television adaptations from the early 2000s. Although the 1984 movie’s Tomatometer score is the worst of the franchise at 36%, Prophecy has now officially earned the first Rotten audience score of the entire series. See a breakdown of the scores of all the movies and television shows below:

Title
RT Critic Score
RT Audience Score

Dune (1984)
36%
65%

Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000)
N/A
74%

Children of Dune (2003)
80%
88%

Dune (2021)
83%
90%

Dune: Part Two (2024)
92%
95%

Dune: Prophecy (2024)
68%
59%

The negative reviews that the show has earned are generally calling the show boring and criticizing its deliberate pacing. Many have also negatively compared it to the HBO fantasy hit Game of Thrones, saying that Dune: Prophecy is trying too hard to mimic the aesthetic and storytelling style of that previous show. This is a sharp turnaround from viewers’ intense investment in the epic story told over the course of 5 hours and 21 minutes in the original duology from which the show is a spinoff.

Our Take On The Dune: Prophecy Audience Score

There Is Still Time For It To Change

It remains to be seen if the Rotten Tomatoes score becomes Fresh again by the end of the season, which concludes on December 22. This score had dipped to Rotten before the release of Dune: Prophecy episode 3, which is only the halfway point of the season. If the remaining four episodes win audiences over, a more glowing reaction could still be within the realm of possibility. Though if it remains Rotten, it seems unlikely that HBO will renew season 2 unless the viewership is strong enough to overcome the general audience response.

Dune: Prophecy airs on HBO on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET.

What makes this slippage in ratings so fickle, however, is that 59% is only 1% lower than a Fresh audience rating, meaning there’s plenty of room for it to fluctuate up or down over the rest of the season. Positive reviews for Dune: Prophecy episode 3 could mean a similar response from audiences, who could permanently elevate the percentage of Fresh reviews from their statistics. However, since critics have been praising the series much more on average, future episodes could also cause that number to get even lower.

For now, though, by teetering on the brink between Fresh and Rotten, the prequel series still has time to win over a larger audience who enjoys the series. Pacing seems to be a major critique, especially given how many moving parts the series has with its ensemble cast. However, because of how much the series still has left to explore, the last half of season 1 could end up being faster, exploring connections between Dune: Prophecy and the movies, alongside giving its story a satisfying conclusion.

Read More About Dune: Prophecy

How The Show Can Win A Larger Audience

[S]ince the show has already established its core story and focal characters, there’s no guarantee of any major changes that will draw more positive reception to the series.

Dune: Prophecy has explored the origins of elements introduced in Villeneuve’s movies, such as Lila going through the Agony with a Water of Life predecessor and explaining the Harkonnen and Atreides feud. These elements could play into the upcoming Dune: Part Three, with the series having a chance to set up the Messiah adaptation through its own storyline. If the show further embraces the established canon, perhaps with more information that ties the early Bene Gesserit to the movies, it can draw a more positive crowd around it.

However, since the show has already established its core story and focal characters, there’s no guarantee of any major changes that will draw more positive reception to the series. While the Dune: Prophecy episode 4 trailer promises major events unfolding, it remains to be seen if they’ll be enough to win over those unhappy with the first half of season 1. Depending on how events shape up, though, there’s still plenty of room for a positive turn for the show’s audience score, especially if some wild or interesting events happen soon.

Upcoming Episode Of Dune: Prophecy
Release Date

Episode 4: Twice Born
12-08-2024

Episode 5: In Blood, Truth
12-15-2024

Episode 6: TBA
12-22-2024