Ambition, as we see in HBO’s prequel series “Dune: Prophecy,” is a tool that cuts both ways. Wielded with precision, it can lead to salvation; wielded recklessly, ruin awaits. That trait, in all its variations, forms the core of the phenomenal “Prophecy,” which is set 10,000 years before the events of the 2021 movie “Dune” and shows the rise of the powerful sect of women that would become known as the Bene Gesserit. We already know how that ambition plays out — it involves a lot of drugs, sandworms and a blue-eyed man who can see the future — yet watching the small but growing sisterhood teeter between ascendancy and destruction is nothing short of captivating. 

The six-episode series (of which the first four were made available for review) is an origin story of how two sisters, wracked with grief and fueled by revenge, would change the known universe for millennia to come. Set shortly after the end of humanity’s successful war against the thinking machines, “Prophecy” introduces us to a sisterhood that wants to wield and influence the ambition of others to advance the species and guide the future. But though its creed is “Sisterhood Above All,” an act of ambitious violence within its ranks alters its future, a common theme in the “Dune” universe.

Read the full review at The Seattle Times.

Four “talk about playing the long game” stars out of five, and a critic’s pick.