Eight months after the premiere of the movie “Dune: Part 2,” it’s time to go 10,000 years into the story’s past with HBO’s prequel series “Dune: Prophecy.”

The following review contains spoilers for the first episode of Dune Prophecy, “The Hidden Hand.” The tasks assigned to “The Hidden Hand” seem insurmountable. The premiere of Dune: Prophecy is asked to set up an enormous cast of characters and the relationships between and the conflicts amongst those characters,

As of this writing, the third film in director Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" series has yet to receive an official greenlight. (The project technically remains in development.) Nonetheless, parent company Warner Bros.

Dune: Prophecy is a lifeless spinoff that falls short of the cinematic majesty of its sister films.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

Dune: Prophecy is the latest extension of the beloved franchise, joining the ranks of Game of Thrones and the forthcoming Harry Potter series. The show delivers a visually stunning and narratively rich expansion of the Dune franchise;

Prophecy, "The Hidden Hand," front-loads a lot of lore. But it's well-made, wonderfully acted, and has more than intrigue to keep us coming back.