A densely plotted return to the shifting sands of ‘Dune’

It’s been 12 years since we last checked in with the denizens of Dune, and all is not well on the desert planet. The glorious revolution that lifted Paul Muad’Dib into power has devolved into a bloody jihad, and enemies are lining up across the galaxy to wrench away the head man’s throne.

But we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. It should be pointed out that the dozen-year gap mentioned above refers to space time, not TV time. It was actually only back in December 2000 that the Sci Fi Channel rolled out its ambitious six-hour miniseries “Frank Herbert’s Dune,” which not only posted the highest ratings achieved by the cable outfit at the time, but also garnered a pair of Emmys for cinematography and special effects.

Given that success, and regardless of how neatly the story line of love, deceit and sand worms was tied up, it was only a matter of time before a new offshoot from Herbert’s seminal novel was readied. That project, “Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune,” premieres Sunday with the opening chapter of another three-night, six-hour miniseries.

The sumptuously mounted production, starring Susan Sarandon and cast holdovers Alec Newman and Julie Cox, airs at 9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday on Sci Fi. The densely plotted epic can be daunting for those new to the “Dune” saga, but the eye-popping sets and special-effects wizardry should keep you hanging in until the good folks can be sorted out from the evil ones amid shifting allegiances.

It’s also fun to see Sarandon taking on a role like Princess Wensicia, a dark-side threat to Paul, keeper of the Muad’Dib flame. But if you recall that Sarandon cut her acting teeth playing opposite a charismatic extraterrestrial in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” coming full circle in this manner may have been written in the stars all along.