Photography by Boris Edrosa Dress by K.T. Kiyoko Takase
You may know Aoife Hinds from the hit show “Normal People,” but her new role as Sister Emeline in HBO’s “Dune: Prophecy” is the latest milestone in her career.
Set ten thousand years before the events in “Dune,” the show tells the story of the early years of the Bene Gesserit, when they were known simply as, “The Sisterhood.” Created only a few decades before the series starts, we get a first hand view of an organization that was mysterious and unknown to viewers of the Dune films.
Of her character, Hinds says, “she comes from this Butlerian family, which is the religious faction in Dune, so she’s had this very religious upbringing—she’s very spiritual.”
“She comes to the sisterhood with a real sense of purpose, which I find interesting. She’s a true empath.” Hinds’ upbringing was not religious, so she found that, “it was really interesting to try to get into the mindset of that and see where the common ground is. I landed on a belief in nature and humankind, so that was really interesting and challenging to unpack.”
Hinds also notes that Emeline “is a true empath,” and found that, “the empathy side is something we have in common. Everything else is composing from a blank canvas.”
Shirt by Comme des Garcons; trousers by Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
The world of Dune seems, at many times, to blur the lines between religion and science, between fantasy and science fiction. “Dune: Prophecy” takes the exploration of those lines to new levels. The world of the sisterhood draws from our history of convents and monasteries—the sisters study books and practice Tai Chi in the rain. Their organization has only been created a few decades before the show starts, so we get to experience the beginning of what was an ancient organization by the time in which the films are set.
On deciding to accept the role, Hinds remarked, “What attracted me to it a lot was the idea of this group of women who are cultivating this group of supernatural powers. They’re going through all this strenuous mental training and physical training, to control their body on a molecular level, and I think actually in womanhood, that’s not so far from what we experience, and it’s an extension of what women’s mental strength and bodies’ capabilities are, so that was something I found really cool to represent.”
In contrast to Sister Emeline, Hinds “didn’t have a religious upbringing and education at all, so it was really interesting to try to get into the mindset of that and see where the common ground is. I landed on a belief in nature and humankind, so that was really interesting and challenging to unpick.”
While they come from vastly different backgrounds, the sisters are thrust together, and bond in pursuit of common goals. Hinds explains, “I didn’t have any siblings, but my friends are like my family. I have a very close-knit group of friends, and I think within this sisterhood, in the show, it’s the family that you don’t choose, but that you end up with, and that you embrace. I think that’s really important, and I love that message."
Top and Skirt by Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
Hinds travelled to Budapest, Hungary, where the show was filmed over the course of six months. In describing their time there, she noted, “All the other girls playing the sisterhood, we really bonded, and that created our own sisterhood, and how important it is to have our support and to champion each other.” She explained that she really values those ties in her own life.
When I asked her about her experience in Budapest, she said, “It was really interesting; we were with such a great group of people; we were so lucky with the cast. When you’re away from home that long, you really need to band together and have each other’s backs.” She departed home in the summer and worked in Hungary through to the winter. “It was really nice to be in a place where you see the change of season, and see how the city shifts.”
HBO has thrown enormous resources at the success of this new saga, and it shows in the immense scale of the scenery. Though she had been a part of large, well-known productions before, Hinds said of the experience, “I had never been on sets this big. There was something about the size of the crew. I’d worked in studios before, but these sets that had been built—the world building around it.” On the duration of the project, Hinds said, “That was the first time I’d been on a job for that long, so you garner and create these relationships with all of the people in the crew. There was something different, where you go into the job, knowing that you’re going to spend quite a lot of time with these people, and I think there’s really something that you, from the beginning, felt that it was a really nice atmosphere, and everyone was so welcoming to that dynamic.”
Top and Trousers by Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
While some dream of the silver screen almost from birth, acting has not always been Hinds’ primary focus. “When I was really young, I kind of wanted to be an actor, and then I kind of forgot about it as a teenager.” She instead ventured to the prestigious London School of Economics, where she studied international relations. Although both her parents are actors, she says they never pushed her to follow in their footsteps. “They wanted me to do whatever I wanted to do, and I think the resistance came from me for a while.” Before pursuing her career, she said, “I think I really wanted to prove to myself that I really, really wanted to do it.”
“I think deep down I always knew I wanted to be an actress, even though I kind of didn’t think about it for a few years. I thought, ‘if I really want to be an actress, I’ll go to university, and then if I still want to do it when I graduate, then it really means, this is what I want to do.”
Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
Thanks to her time in university, she has unique insight into her character and the world she inhabits. She said it influenced her understanding of “how you’re navigating the politics and policies. I think it’s influenced me in how I approach everything, but I think there are themes that really are apparent about how we are pulling the strings. This idea of soft power vs hard power, and the idea of how these women are, behind the scenes, really pulling the strings.”
In the world of Dune, there is often no obvious moral high ground. The characters are complex, and find themselves in challenging situations, where there is no way to emerge a shining example of unadulterated virtuosity. “Dune: Prophecy” is no exception. Of the Sisterhood, Hinds says, “I think they have this long term mission, and they won’t stop at anything to get it. And what I think is interesting in this show, is there’s no good vs evil being weighed against each other.” The sisters are “extremely strong willed.”
Dress by Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
A topic that’s increasingly relevant to everyone’s lives in 2024, the show explores themes of artificial intelligence. While largely overlooked in the recent films, “Dune: Prophecy” begins to delve into these topics. On the character’s experience of AI, Hinds told me, “The Butlarians are so anti-technology and AI, and in the context of the show, we have to remember that a hundred years ago, humanity was on the verge of being wiped out by technology, which poses a really interesting question about how far we will go in our society, and to what limits AI will be pushed. It is a real subject; it is a very important subject, but I would hope that the need for human connection will always trump that and prevail.” As the show progresses episode by episode, she says, “It’s a very, very central theme.”
At a moment where we’re all wondering whether AI will become a tool to help us reach new heights, or simply make us redundant, I asked her what sort of impact she anticipates the technology may have on her career. She told me that, “I think there’s something how two humans interact in a room,” She continued, “In acting, it’s about responding to the other person and really taking on what they’re giving you, and it’s so about being alive and listening really intently, and I don’t see how an AI could replicate those things that you can’t even put words on.”
Dress by Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
Hinds spent the day with us on location in East London to shoot our latest cover. It was her first time working with photographer Boris Edrosa. She noted that he, “directed in a way that he knows what he wants, and it was really interesting working on an editorial shoot like that.” During the day with our team, she found that “It’s an amazing exercise, I think, for actors. You know, we’re not used to being ourselves in front of the camera, but it’s trying to find a version of yourself that’s being photographed, and I think it’s really interesting because it puts you somewhere else inside you. It’s different; it’s different from filming, and it’s different from being yourself. It’s just another medium of exploring what you have inside you.”
Shirt by Comme des Garcons; trousers by Issey Miyake Photo by Boris Edrosa
If her outstanding, intense, and nuanced performance in “Dune: Prophecy” is anything to go by, this is just the start for Hinds. When I asked what she has her sights set on next, one of the things she mentioned is that, like many great actors, she feels a pull towards the theatre. She says that, “I think theatre was kind of my first love, and I’d love to do more of that. There’s something about the idea of doing a play on Broadway, which I think is one of my professional dreams.” I asked her what attracts her to the theatre, she explained, “There’s something about telling the same story every night, but having that shift, depending on how that audience is reacting to it, and telling the same story to a different group of people who are there to hear it every single night. I find the idea of that really beautiful.”
After having left her mark on the first season of the show, I asked her what’s next. She responded, “I’m working on something at the moment that, unfortunately, I can’t say anything about, but I’m very excited about it.” Once we’ve finished watching “Dune: Prophecy,” we’ll just have to wait to see what’s next for her, but it’s undoubtedly going to be outstanding.
Aoife Hinds - Represented by Premier
Photographer Boris Edrosa @boris_edrosa
Wardrobe Stylist Mizuki Sakakibara @mizukisakakibarafashionstylist
Hairstylist Chikako Shinoda @shinochika_hair
