“He’s such a limited actor”: ‘Dune: Prophecy’ Fans Are Convinced Travis Fimmel Is Miscast and It’s a Terrible Sign for the Actor
- Travis Fimmel plays Desmond Hart, one of the key characters on Dune: Prophecy.
- Fans do not appreciate the actor's expressions, dialogue delivery and just the way he acts.
- Dune: Prophecy is concluding it's six-episode run on December 22, 2024.
Alison Schapker and Diane Ademu-John’s Dune: Prophecy, set in Frank Herbert’s Dune Universe, follow the origins of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. The series takes place about 10,000 years before the events showcased in Denis Villeneuve’s films and stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Josh Heuston, and more. Dune: Prophecy is based on on the Great Schools of Dune novel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
Upon release, the show received a positive response from the critics and the audience. The series holds a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics mentioning the terrific performances by Watson and Williams. The six-episode series is set to conclude on December 22, 2024. Despite being in the industry for a while, fans have pointed out that one actor seems miscast for the show.
Travis Fimmel talks about portraying Desmond Hart in Dune: Prophecy
Actor Travis Fimmel portrays the character of Desmond Hart in Dune: Prophecy, who seeks to gain Emperor Javicco Corrino’s trust at the expense of the Sisterhood. Fimmel’s character is one of the significant and interesting characters on the show, and his character is described as a mysterious warrior with strange powers.
Desmond Hart is able to burn people to death with his mind. Fimmel has previously portrayed the character of Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings which the audience appreciated. In his conversation with Games Radar+, the actor explains how his character on Dune: Prophecy is different from his Vikings character.
I enjoy making the reasons why people are violent, or the reason why people fight. To make it high stakes enough and to get behind a character, or to want to play a character, you got to make it meaningful to carry out such acts.
Fimmel added that his character on Dune: Prophecy will go to any lengths to fulfill what he believes is his greater purpose. He added that when the showrunner, Alison Schapker, writes down these characters, they always have so much depth to them. Schapker, in speaking to EW about Fimmel’s character, said that Desmond Hart is a great mystery.
Where does his power come from, and how is he doing that? Has he, too, pushed the boundaries of what it means to be human forward, or is there more to his story? Those are the things we wanted in play. To understand Desmond will take us on a very interesting ride.
Actor Mark Strong, who plays Emperor Javicco Corrino, added that Desmond Hart is perfect for the emperor because the emperor is insecure and underconfident, but with Hart, he feels as if he has an enforcer. Strong noted that Demond Hart is very useful to his character on the show.
Fans question Travis Fimmel’s casting as Desmond Hart
In his conversation with the New York Times, the actor shared that his character is not in the position of power, and he’s got nothing but messing up with people’s heads is the only power he has. The actor noted that he loves the fact that people are so passionate about the Dune universe, adding,
My character wasn’t in the books, and it threw them off a bit. But it’s such a vast world, and you’ve got to give compliments to Frank Herbert when he started this thing.
Further in the conversation, he mentions that Desmond Hart acts like he knows what’s going on and what’s going to happen, but he is unsure of himself, and he is unsure what the power he has can do to him. The actor mentioned that it causes him a lot of pain, physically and mentally, which makes him question the nature of his personality, but at the same time, he gets off on it too.
Where the actor and the showrunner feel satisfied with Travis Fimmel’s work, fans of the show do not feel the same way about him. A Reddit user wrote,
I’m sure he’s a nice guy, and I had nothing against his Ragnar Lothbrok take, but he’s such a limited actor, and this is just a rehash of his performance on Raised by Wolves.
The user wrote that the makers could have picked anyone because Fimmel’s glances, expressions, and dialogue delivery don’t sit right. Another user mentioned that in front of Emily Watson’s brilliant performance, Fimmel’s acting looks so dull and uninteresting. Fans wrote that Travis Fimmel is such a basic actor that they don’t know why he was even cast in the role for Dune: Prophecy.
Fimmel in his interview mentioned that he loves that the show takes risks, pointing out that the makers are not afraid to make people think something about them.
Dune: Prophecy is streaming on HBO.
