From its beginnings in 2021, the animated video game series Arcane has always gone big. One of the most expensive animated shows in existence, Arcane, produced by French studio Fortiche, is a one-of-a-kind experience. If there were a prestige TV parallel to be made, it would likely be with Game of Thrones.

After all, both shows used their massive production budgets to dig deep into political intrigue, character development, betrayals and plot twists, not to mention titillating — and often raunchy — romance. While Game of Thrones is in its spinoff era, Arcane is just getting hot. Having wrapped up its second season, clocking in at nine episodes, Arcane is one of the top 19 English-language shows streaming on Netflix at the moment. And everyone is talking about it — critically and otherwise. While it caught flak from fans for rushed pacing, Arcane also has left viewers excitedly discussing the loose ends that will have to be revisited and explored another time.

Inverse sat down with Arcane showrunner Christian Linke and writer Amanda Overton after the show’s finale to discuss the craft behind Season 2 and what else the creators have planned for us. To those that thought the show felt rushed, the creators have implored fans to consider rewinding and re-watching. Even though Arcane dropped multiple episodes in a sitting suitable for marathon-watching, the way it was crafted was meant more for a watercooler discussion, akin to Game of Thrones, Westworld, or Lost from yesteryear. And so here we are, two weeks after the finale, unpacking the nearly six hours of must-see TV that have us wanting more.

Throughout all six episodes of Dune: Prophecy, the journey of Valya Harkonnen — from an outcast of a disgraced house to the leader of the powerful Sisterhood — is central to nearly everything that happens in the series. And, because the role is so big and formative for the Dune saga, it’s taken two actresses to pull it off. In the present tense of the show, the venerable Emily Watson is Mother Valya, but in the flashbacks in the first and third episodes of the show, Jessica Barden plays a younger version of Valya.

Arguably, although Watson carries the heavier burden of leading the entire show, it’s Barden’s younger version of Valya who we see making formative, galaxy-shaking decisions. So, which Valya is the most pivotal? And could we see Barden’s version again, even outside of the Prophecy flashbacks? Smack dab in the middle of Dune: Prophecy’s explosive run of episodes, Inverse chatted with Jessica Barden to get her “truth-sense” on the past, present, and future of Dune.

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