Olivia Williams, Emily Watson finally share screen in 'Dune: Prophecy'

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- The Crown, Counterpart and Manhattan alum Olivia Williams says she has known Gosford Park actress Emily Watson for decades, but astonishingly never got to work with her until they were cast together in Dune: Prophecy.

"We met outside a pub in Stratford-on-Avon that's called the Black Swan, but it's known to actors as the Dirty Duck, and we were sitting on the grass, drinking pints of beer and wondering what was going to happen in our careers, and who would have thought we'd end up in front of a few thousand people at Comic Con?" Williams, 56, told UPI in a recent round-table interview with reporters at New York Comic Con.

"It's really thrilling to be her sister, and then to enter the sisterhood to work with this incredible group of young actors," she said. "To walk on to a set with a bunch of people, the next generation, taking up the cudgels of acting with such incredible force... is an absolute privilege and a thrill."

Premiering Sunday on HBO and Max, the sci-fi drama is based on the novel, Sisterhood of Dune, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

It takes place 10,000 years before the ascension of hero Paul Atreides (played by Timothee Chalamet in the film franchise) and follows the Harkonnen sisters -- Vayla (Watson) and Tula (Williams) as they establish the powerful, supernatural, Bene Gesserit religious and political organization.

Chloe Lea plays one of their students, Lila.

"I find Lila very relatable because I think she's a very empathetic person. I think actors tend to be empathetic people and I think she's just someone who's kind of searching for her purpose. She's a student in the sisterhood," Lea said.

"But she's not really revered as a promising student. So, I think at the start of the show, you see her trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible and trying to work out where she fits in with it all."

Williams noted that Lila is an orphan, which gives her opposing senses of vulnerability and freedom.

The actress said she admired the strength and determination her younger co-star brought to the role.

"She was asked to do those nightmare things, like, 'Could you just lie on this white bed, wearing not very many clothes in a cold room and can you pretend that you're dying from the inside? OK! Action!'" Williams laughed.

"Those are my fondest days!" Lea quipped.

Williams said she felt maternal towards Lea on the show's set.

"This poor girl! She was like: 'I'm finally away from my parents. Finally, I've turned 18 and can make my own decisions.' And I was like, 'Can we have a blanket for Chloe?' 'Are you OK, darling?' 'Have you brushed your teeth?'" Williams recalled.

As someone who has few epic sci-fi projects on her resume, Williams said she relied heavily on show-runner Alison Schapker and producer Jordan Goldberg to help her navigate the Dune mythology.

"I was on the phone a lot to Alison, saying, 'It is your duty to explain!'" Williams joked.

"I'm afraid I didn't go back to books, but on their advice, because they were taking the show into a different place. It was just a very big hotline to Alison and Jordan."

Lea agreed, acknowledging she also relied on her co-stars for help in keeping her place in the fictional world.

"You get so lost in all the scripts, and you're filming out of order, and you're kind of like relying on each other to know this is when this happens," Lea said.

"It was a bit of a whirlwind, but with Alison and Jordan's help and that of other cast members, we got through," she added. "Also, it was kind of remembering these people are people without the whole Dune universe that is very rich and expansive. At the end of the day, they have human relationships."

Williams said she was excited to have the length of a series instead of a movie to explore these themes and people in depth.

"Being old enough to be back in the era of movies where you try to put a book like Crime and Punishment into a 90-minute film, [I felt] the joy of having a whole series of books and you can play every scene in the books, given enough seasons," she said about Dune.

"We've got 10,000 years to cover until Timothy Chalametis born," Williams added.

Jodhi May, Travis Fimmel and Mark Strong co-star.