According to “Dune: Prophecy” stars Josh Heuston and Sarah-Sophie Boussnina, the children of House Corrino get along a lot better than the Tudor queens did. Boussnina plays Ynez, the heir to the throne, and Heuston plays the emperor’s illegitimate son, Constance.
Having been trained from birth in royal etiquette and largely isolated from their peers, the Corrino kids lead quite a lonely existence. Boussnina explains that Ynez and Constance are “super protective” of each other because they’re aware of the dangers that surround them: “They only have each other, because they know that the life that they live holds value to strangers, that it can be hard to trust people around them because they might want something out of them because of their position.”
For Heuston, playing the kid who isn’t the heir, one book provided some valuable insight: Prince Harry’s autobiography “Spare.” The title is taken from the monarchic tradition of trying to produce, at the very least, “an heir and a spare” — meaning an older son to inherit the crown, and a younger son as a “spare” in case the heir dies. Harry’s father, the now-King Charles III, reportedly congratulated Princess Diana on Harry’s birth with the words: “Wonderful. Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare — my work is done.”
According to Prince Harry, the word was used openly around him by his family when he was growing up. “They would say it without a spirit of judgement, but straight out. I was the shadow, the supporting actor, the plan B […] I was brought into this world in case something happened to [Prince William].” In his teenage years he gained a reputation as a royal bad boy, making headlines for drunkenness, drug use, and in one instance, for wearing a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party.
Heuston and Boussnina watched “a lot of YouTube videos of how [young royals] would have their facade in public, and then you’d see paparazzi videos of them when they’re not necessarily on.” He also took inspiration from Prince Hal, a fictionalized version of the young Henry V who appears in William Shakespeare’s plays, because “he has that sort of drunken persona.”
“Dune: Prophecy” premieres 9 p.m. EST on Sunday, November 17, on HBO and Max.
