Emily Watson is returning to the world of Dune, but she is keeping quiet about what season two of Prophecy actually contains. Speaking at the Variety Lounge during the Sarajevo Film Festival, the actress offered only a brief glimpse of what fans can expect.
"There are a lot of new elements, really interesting and intriguing things […] I think my head will blow off if I mention any of them," she said.
Watson plays Valya Harkonnen in the HBO Max series. The second season has been filmed, but according to Variety, no release date has been set. For Watson, whose career was built on arthouse and independent work, including Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves and Robert Altman's Gosford Park, the show has represented a major shift.
"It was a true departure for me to be in a spaceship," she said. "You know, it's actually really good fun."
She also described something about the role that felt different from her previous work. Playing Valya Harkonnen gave her, she said, "a sense of being on a quest in a way that actors always get to do and actresses don't. And that was just fun."
Watson was in Sarajevo not only to discuss the show but to serve as jury president at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the jury she led awarded the Honorary Heart for best narrative feature film to Sandra Wollner's Everytime. The Austrian film follows a mother, her young daughter, and a teenage boy traveling to Tenerife to cope with the death of their eldest daughter and sister. Wollner and her producers took home 16,000 Euros.
The jury's statement on the film read: "Moments of cinematic grace float through this mesmerically elastic and transcendental grief-soaked ghost story."
The best director prize went to Georgian filmmaker Ana Urushadze for Supporting Role, earning her 10,000 Euros toward her next project. The film follows a fading Georgian film star who auditions for a young female director and is offered a role he finds bizarre and deeply offensive, only to find himself gradually surrendering to it. Urushadze told The Hollywood Reporter: "To me, ultimately, it's a film about realizing the elusive nature of reality, and taking control of your life."
Best actress went to Eva Kostić for her performance in 17. The jury called it "a fearless emergence of a young talent. Raw, visceral and deeply instinctive." Best actor went to Adrian Văncică for You Don't Belong Here.
An Honorary Heart was also awarded to Bosnian-Herzegovinian actor Emir Hadžihafizbegović in recognition of his contributions to cinema. He joined Watson, Diego Luna, Woody Harrelson, and Asghar Farhadi as recipients of the award. The festival closed with a screening of a restored version of No Man's Land by Danis Tanović.
Watson also spoke about her longtime connection to Sarajevo. She first came to the city in 2005 as a curator of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation. Cartlidge, her co-star in Breaking the Waves, died in 2002 at age 41. Sarajevo established a filmmaking bursary in Cartlidge's name shortly after her death. Returning to the city this year as both jury president and award recipient, Watson described the experience as "quite overwhelming."
As for the broader Dune universe, Watson said she is looking forward to Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three. "I mean, I can't wait to see that movie," she said. "I'm a huge fan of him, obviously, and it's stuffed full of incredible actors that I love."
