Diane Ademu-John is the new showrunner for HBO Max’s upcoming “Dune” spinoff TV series. She replaces Jon Spaihts, who left the project at the end of 2019 in order to focus on writing the sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming big screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic.
Based on Herbert’s “Dune” novel series, “Dune: The Sisterhood” explores the world of the book through the eyes of a mysterious order of women known as the Bene Gesserit. Given extraordinary abilities by their mastery of the body and the mind, the Bene Gesserit expertly weaves 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.
The series was ordered back in 2019.
Spaihts remains as an executive producer on the series, which is from Legendary TV. Villeneuve is set to direct the pilot.
A sequel to Villeneuve’s “Dune” has not been announced. Villeneuve’s big-screen reboot of “Dune” — David Lynch directed a 1984 version — is set to be released later this year in theaters and on HBO Max.
Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, and Dave Bautista will star in the film.
Ademu-John most recently worked as an executive producer and writer on the Netflix horror series “The Haunting of Bly Manor.” Her other credits include “Empire,” “The Originals,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Medium” “Crossing Jordan.”
Variety was first to report on Ademu-John.