If there’s one thing that the folks behind Dune: Prophecy want, it’s for the audience to feel welcome. Notorious for a perception of denseness and complexity, the barrier to entry into Dune has, historically, felt like a fictional world that required a bunch of homework ahead of time. But in a TV age in which other prestige fantasy shows are derived from the appendices of famous novels, Dune: Prophecy’s advantage is that although it's based on whole books, it's not entirely beholden to fan expectations, nor does it assume you’ve read everything. It’s a prequel, but it’s equally its own thing.

“For us, it’s impossible to approach it like that,” Chris Mason tells Inverse. His sword-swinging character is Keiran Atreides, a distant ancestor of Leto and Paul. “They become part of that Dune canon, which has been really exciting. But, for us it's new and it's something we are very much in the present with our characters.”

This comment is an interesting microcosm of the tension within the new series. The series, which follows sisters Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams) as they seek to expand the power of the Sisterhood (soon to be Bene Gesserit) in order to control the throne, packs each episode with massive twists — twists that will shape the distant future of the classic Dune narrative. But how does it all work? And what exactly is the “Prophecy” in Dune: Prophecy? Inverse caught up with the cast, showrunner, and producer to sift through the sands for the answers.

Ever since Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker premiered to poor reviews and fan disappointment, the creative team behind the Star Wars movies has been quiet. Lucasfilm hasn’t released a movie in five years, though not for lack of trying. The studio seems to have plenty of ideas, though most have gone nowhere. From David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ scrapped trilogy to a rumored film developed by Kevin Feige, few pitches have actually made it beyond early development. But Lucasfilm finally seems to have a concrete path forward after so much uncertainty, and its most ambitious plans include the next chapter of the Skywalker saga.

As this update is relatively new, there’s not much concrete information just yet. But here’s everything we know about this new batch of Star Wars sequels — Episodes X, XI, and XII — and what we can expect from them.