← Gom Jabbar: A Dune Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
Today on the show, it is that time again, dear listeners. We are taking stock of where we are in production. We are talking about where we're gonna be going, where we've been. We're sharing the slig sausage making process. Peek behind the curtains. It's time for State of the Imperium. Yeah.
- [00:24]
B
Welcome to the Sausage factory, folks. It's what we call the studio.
- [00:29]
A
Welcome to the sausage. What that means when people say sausage party. They're talking about production details, I'm pretty sure.
- [00:47]
B
Welcome to Gom Jabbar, your guide to the iconic world of Dune. We'll be exploring the themes, philosophies, and characters found in the sandy depths of this vast universe, from Frank Herbert's groundbreaking novels to the adaptations on film and tv. My name's Abu.
- [01:02]
A
My name is Leo.
- [01:03]
B
And, folks, it's the start of a new year, and you know what that means. We're getting meta. We're talking mostly about ourselves. God damn it.
- [01:11]
A
Yeah.
- [01:12]
B
Frank who? Dune. What?
- [01:13]
A
I haven't heard of him.
- [01:14]
B
This is about Gom Jabbar.
- [01:16]
A
Who's Frank? Frankly, not sure.
- [01:18]
B
Yeah, no, no. We are doing another State of the Imperium episode. This is a tradition we started a couple of years ago in 2024, where we start off a new year by peeling back the curtain and cluing you, our valued listeners and supporters, in on how Gom Jabbar is doing. Kind of talking through the nitty gritty of production and download numbers and revealing our budget. Really trying to take a radical approach to transparency so that you all feel invested in this show nearly as much as we do.
- [01:54]
A
Yeah. I think on both sides of the coin, we don't ever want to gatekeep anything.
- [01:59]
B
No.
- [02:00]
A
And when it comes to, like, making a podcast, if there are people out there who are like, I want to do what they're doing, we want to give you the details so that you can make an informed decision. But also, there's the other side of it, where people hear us talking about Dune every week. They see maybe that we have so many patrons, we have a new merch store, these things. I. I just want to make sure that everyone knows kind of where we're at.
- [02:26]
B
Yeah.
- [02:27]
A
So that if they decide to be a $2 patron or a $5 patron or whatever, they understand what piece of the puzzle they are with that contribution. And not that, you know, they're one of a billion or 1 of 3. It's somewhere in between. And we'll tell you exactly where in between today.
- [02:44]
B
That's right. So if you've ever wondered how the Gom Jabbaris League sausage gets made. Stick around, because we're going to tell you on this episode, folks.
- [02:54]
A
Sweetest sausages this side of heaven. That's us.
- [02:58]
B
That's us. That's what they call us. So here's the game plan for today's episode. We're going to start the conversation by breaking down the numbers, getting right into it. We're going to talk about how many downloads this show gets, how we make money, where we make money, how much it costs to make this show, and who the team behind the show is. Then we're gonna tap into our prescient abilities and share with you our goals for 2026 and beyond as we continue to try and create the best Dune community on the Internet. That's kind of the goal.
- [03:34]
A
Yep.
- [03:34]
B
And then finally, at the end of the episode, you're gonna want to stick around for this, folks, because we're gonna wrap up by teasing out just a couple of breadcrumbs about an ambitious new project that we've been cooking up and how you, dear listener, can get involved in helping us develop it over the next few months.
- [03:55]
A
Yeah, indeed. But before we get into all of that, we're going to take a quick break. Don't go anywhere. When we're back, we're getting into the books.
- [04:04]
B
Yes.
- [04:05]
A
Everyone's favorite.
- [04:11]
B
Welcome back, folks. All right, let's jump right in. Let's crack open our accounting books and our numbers books and our picture books.
- [04:23]
A
Journal books and a lot of books. Our diaries. Lots of books.
- [04:26]
B
Our diaries. Yeah. Our most personal diaries. We're going to read them today. It's the radical. Transparency indeed is the thing.
- [04:34]
A
It's a 65 hour episode. Yeah.
- [04:38]
B
So let's start with our downloads. This is a really important number for.
- [04:43]
A
Us, for all podcasts.
- [04:45]
B
It's kind of for all podcasts, frankly, for practically anything on the Internet. Download subscribers. This is like the key number, the thing that you stress the most about, because this is frankly, the most direct way we can measure how the show is doing.
- [04:59]
A
Right.
- [05:00]
B
So here's how we did in 2025. Here are our numbers for the year 2025. Over the course of the year, we typically released four episodes a month. As you all know, we release new episodes every Friday. And an average month of downloads for GOM Jabbar in 2025 usually was between 40 and 50,000 downloads per month, which is pretty healthy. Yeah. Now, 2025 overall, though, was a pretty quiet year for Dune. There were no big releases. There were no huge announcements. There wasn't huge waves of hype. So we basically just held consistent download numbers every month. In 2025, we didn't get those huge waves of downloads and new incoming listeners that we saw back in 2024 thanks to, obviously, the release of Dune Part 2, which was a phenomenon, and then later in the year, the release of Prophecy on HBO and all the coverage we did for that.
- [06:00]
A
Right, right.
- [06:00]
B
So 2024 turned out to be a record breaking year for us. We cracked a million downloads over the course of that year. 2025 was quieter. We held steady throughout the year and ended ultimately with 550,000 total downloads across the year.
- [06:15]
A
Yeah, our podcast is so tied to Dune that when Dune has a giant record breaking year, so will we. So do we, oftentimes. And when Dune has a quiet year, and I say this also because 2025 and also probably 2026, both quieter years, we generally anticipate that that's going to be our trajectory as well.
- [06:37]
B
Right, exactly.
- [06:38]
A
Now, how does all of that translate into money? How did the finances break down? And because this was a quieter year, we generally were a little worried that our monthly take home was going to be a lot lower, that we weren't going to be able to afford the various expenses that we have in production. But thanks to the incredible generosity of our patrons and the our Kwisatz Haderach patrons, basically anyone who's contributed to Gom Jabbar, we were able to stay afloat and we were able to have really, a really solid year. Yes. Again, we're not coating anything in gold. We're not buying rubies by the handful. We're not buying a house on Topeel.
- [07:21]
B
Right. My Maserati purchase was not a good idea.
- [07:23]
A
To be clear, Abu is neck deep in debt. He's got creditors hunting him down right now. Because of that, they can't catch me.
- [07:33]
B
In the Maserati, but they're hunting me so fast.
- [07:36]
A
But he has to refuel at some point. It's not electric. Anyway, back to money. Right. We stayed afloat. We basically were able to have an okay year. And here's the breakdown. Basically, GOM Jabbar brings in about $3,000 per month, which comes from five different sources, basically five different revenue streams. We've got Patreon, we've got ad revenue, we've got sponsors, we've got tips, and we've got merchandise sales. Now, each of those buckets are very different and have their own kind of forces, their own ebbs and flows.
- [08:15]
B
Yep.
- [08:15]
A
But the Lion's share is Patreon and is our patrons. So 3,000 total, $2,300 a month is patrons.
- [08:28]
B
Wow.
- [08:29]
A
Which is unbelievably generous of everyone, genuinely, as we talk about the rest of the finances and we talk about how this all breaks down into an hourly. We could not do this without patrons. So when we say that our monthly Patreon supporters build the foundation upon which this show is built, that is a thousand percent.
- [08:50]
B
We mean that quite literally.
- [08:53]
A
Quite literally. Now, for those people who are not patrons, who are listening to the public feed that has the advertisements, those advertisements with our monthly Downloads yield about $400 to $500 a month. And then finally, merchandise sales and kind of one off tips of people just deciding in a moment to be generous. Those usually generate about $100 to $200 a month. So again, 3,000 total. About 2,300 from Patreon and then 400, 500 from ads, advertisements, and then of course, just 100, 200 bucks here and there from merchandise.
- [09:33]
B
Right.
- [09:33]
A
This also leaves out the category of, like, sponsorships. We had a sponsorship with Lego, for instance. We did a thing at one point, like, we've done a couple, and those were little bumps here and there. Nothing in 2025. So that's kind of how it breaks down.
- [09:49]
B
Right. Sponsorships are more sporadic. They happen two or three times a year for us at best, during a great year, 2025 was again, a quieter year. And so we didn't have any sponsorships, so we didn't get those one off bumps in revenue. So we pretty much just stayed consistent, generating that 3,000 per month for the whole year.
- [10:09]
A
Yeah.
- [10:09]
B
So, okay, that is how much the show makes and what the pie looks like, what each bucket brings us the five different revenue sources that we have. If you're hearing that and wondering, all right, where does that money go, though? How much does it cost to make the show and what ends up in your pockets? Here's the breakdown. Every month we take that $3,000, and around 1,000 ish of that dollars goes to paying our team. We have our assistant producer, Luna, and our editor, Declan. So it's just four of us, small team. And they get paid out of that. They get paid the same. No matter what the revenue is. They just get paid what their contracts are.
- [10:50]
A
Right.
- [10:50]
B
And then we take a couple hundred dollars to pay bills. There's things like Google cloud storage that needs to be paid every month. There's tools that we use to live stream that need to. To be paid every month. There's the website upkeep that gets paid. So just the normal subscriptions and tools we need to.
- [11:09]
A
Actually, I have a personal chef who makes me three course meals every day, you know.
- [11:14]
B
Exactly, exactly. So a couple hundred comes off and goes to bills every month. And then once those things are covered, once the team is paid, once the bills are paid, whatever is left over that month gets split right down the middle and we pay ourselves with it. Leo gets half, I get half.
- [11:34]
A
Right.
- [11:35]
B
And so how that number breaks down is when all is said and done, we each usually make around eight to nine hundred dollars per month from Gom Jabbar. That's our take home. And what actually ends up in our pocket. Again, that's all very dependent on download numbers and ad revenue and patron numbers going up and down. But generally that's sort of the ballpark we're working with. And when you break that down even further, given that each episode of Gamja Bar typically requires around 30 to 40 hours of combined work from us, our quote unquote hourly wage, as much as you can put an hourly wage on a creative project like this, hovers around $12 an hour, basically, since we're putting in a combined 30 to 40 hours a week into the show, creating each episode, and doing all the administrative stuff that's required to keep things running.
- [12:25]
A
Yeah. Now, speaking of the team, and this is again, we debated this. We talked about, you know, how much to say, but at the end of the day, we want to make sure you all understand what we're doing, what we're dealing with, the decisions we're making. And along those lines, we are going to share that we did not renew Luna's contract this year. To be crystal clear, Luna's fucking awesome.
- [12:54]
B
She's amazing.
- [12:55]
A
This has nothing to do with Luna's performance. We are so, so, so grateful for her contributions to the show in 2025. She was instrumental. When I went to the full intern archives and spent nine hours digitizing over 700 documents, Luna was right there with me, elbow to elbow, taking pictures, helping document. Unbelievably helpful. Also, fun fact, the number three most downloaded episode of 2025, our analysis of the Dune Part 1 movie script was Luna's idea, her research and her script. So, Luna Rockstar. And we want to thank Luna, of course, for being such a great part of our team for 2025. And this definitely is not goodbye. We will, of course, as we need to reach out to Luna. And we've had that conversation and everything, but I think that brings us to why we made the decision and also why we're telling you.
- [13:52]
B
Right.
- [13:52]
A
And this comes down to two main reasons. The first reason is dumb is unfortunate and just kind of sucks. Right?
- [14:01]
B
We wish this reason didn't exist.
- [14:03]
A
Really do. 2026 is going to be a slow year. And yeah, because our show lives on the Internet, we are always facing this decision of can we even afford to pay to expand the team in a year when we're not going to be having any of those natural bumps or sponsorships or anything like that. Right?
- [14:24]
B
Yeah. And the reality is when you create something on the Internet, you face natural attrition. There is always you're battling against the forces of low download numbers, low revenue, low whatever. You're kind of always playing this tug in war. And like you said, Leo, Dune is not always going to be at peak hype. We're not always going to have a huge TV show release on hbo. We're not always going to have Villeneuve dropping a Oscar winning masterpiece. And so our numbers consequently will not always be growing and sometimes they will be decreasing. And thus slower downloads means slower revenue, which ultimately led us to not feel confident that in 2026 we would have the budget to keep paying an assistant producer. As wonderful as Luna is, we want to pay her fairly for her work and we just weren't confident we could do that for another year. So we didn't renew her contract this year.
- [15:20]
A
Right. Now, in addition to that, it is something I will tell you all. I've kind of hinted at this, or I've mentioned it once or twice. I'm moving to France. Those are words. So in September, I got married and Abu was at the wedding. It was lovely.
- [15:42]
B
Yay.
- [15:43]
A
And. And to be closer to my wife's family and for lots of personal reasons, we are going to move to France. And although this is a very exciting moment in my life, I will also stress. This is kind of like a stressful thing. I've never lived outside of the country in which I was born. And for the first time in my life, I will be relying on my voiceover work, my audiobook narration, which are both things that I do on the side. And of course, I will also be relying on Gom Jabbar and my creative projects with Abu, as well as some other things here and there. Now, I do not share this information about my life to say please, please, please keep your Patreon, please. You know, that's not the vibe, I promise you. I say this because the generosity of anybody who is contributing as a patron Even if it's just $2 or $5 a month, is literally making it possible for me to look down the barrel of, like, leaving this country in which I was born and not to feel like I'm going to be in a strange land where everyone speaks strange tongues and eats strange cheeses and I'm going to be fucking sitting there twiddling my thumbs. No, I'm going to be producing Gom Jabbar as well as. We'll talk about a secret project at the end, but wanted to share that note because also as we're talking about this kind of battle of attrition, this sort of 2026 being a slow year for Dune, it is not necessarily a slow year for us as individuals.
- [17:17]
B
Right. Life is still happening. Bills are still coming in.
- [17:20]
A
Yeah, yeah. Just wanted to share that detail. And of course, that means maybe we'll have to do some fan meetups in France for any of our French listeners. Oh, fun.
- [17:29]
B
Yeah. More excuses for me to fly out to France and have those weird cheeses.
- [17:35]
A
So many weird cheeses.
- [17:38]
B
Yeah. I mean, that's incredibly exciting for you, Leo. And it's just ultimately we share that again, not because, like, oh, woe is us, like pity party, but because that is an honest part of the budget calculation. Right. We have to consider how our lives are changing and how our budgets and our money needs change and how that affects Com Jabbar as well. And that is ultimately also part of the calculus. So in the spirit of radical transparency, we wanted to share that aspect as well. That is a part of the conversation now. Moving on from money and budget and boring ass corporate reasons. The second reason we ultimately didn't renew Luna's contract is actually more creative. It kind of comes down to some interesting lessons we've learned in the last couple of years, but particularly in 2025, around building a team for a creative project like Gam Jabbar. Truth be told, for the last six years since launching this thing in 2020, we've just been winging it, right? Like, we're like, should we try this thing? Let's try it. Have you done it before? No. Okay, let's figure it out. That's been our energy for the past six years. Some things have been successful, many things have not. And we've learned our lessons and tried to change. So hiring somebody is a thing neither of us has ever done in our professional lives. We've never been in that type of managerial or executive role before. And so bringing Luna on was a bit of a leap of faith. It was something utterly new to us. And our assumption, perhaps a bit naive, was that if we had a bigger team making the show, then we could make more show, right? More episodes, more videos, more whatever, more content and that we could make a better show. Everything would be 10x better and more in depth than the research would be.
- [19:27]
A
Like 10x more, 6 times more Dune, 20 times more Frank. Yeah.
- [19:32]
B
And you know, looking back, perhaps a bit naive of us to assume that, because the reality is that's not the case. Adding more people is not just a linear chart that increases more people equals more output. For a creative project like this one, especially a project that relies so heavily on our literal voices, but also our creative voices and styles, it turns out that it's quite difficult to standardize workflows as a team grows creativity, style, voice. These are not things that follow rules, right? Like, these are not things that just happen linearly, step by step and can be reproduced by anybody. And so there were some challenges along the way that we faced when it came to trying to grow the team while trying to grow the show. It turns out sometimes those two things oppose each other. And you know, ultimately having a team does help in some ways. Like it takes the stress off of us during busy weeks. We're able to, for example, when Leo's getting married and we're both out of the country in France for a week, hand things off to Luna to handle while we're out. That sort of thing is incredibly helpful. But growing the team didn't help us grow the show exponentially like we had hoped and wanted. And so we've chosen to take a step back and sort of re evaluate how we want to continue growing the show and working on the show.
- [20:54]
A
Right. And again, a lot of the calculus changes when I arrive in France and am doing this more full time.
- [21:01]
B
Right.
- [21:02]
A
Because currently, I mean, we've been the last five or six years, we're in the seventh year of Gam Jabbar production Wild. This whole time both of us have had like survival jobs. Like we've both been doing 40 hour work weeks and other jobs. And this is going to be the first time that I have more bandwidth. And so I think we're also both not. Neither of us are really sure what this year is going to look like. So along those lines, taking a step back, reevaluating. That's also why we're saying you will very likely hear from Luna again as we kind of figure out what our bandwidth is for bringing on additional support. We are absolutely going to be doing.
- [21:40]
B
So for sure, yes, absolutely. And so with that in mind, we want to move on to talking about 2026 and the year ahead, what goals and ambitions we have for another hopefully great year of Gom Jabbar. And we'll get into all of that after another quick break. So stick around, folks. When we come back, we're talking about the future of this show.
- [22:06]
A
Welcome back, everybody. Oh, I hope you're ready to drink the blue juice that makes everyone worse. We're looking into the Future Dune in 2026. We've talked a little bit about it, but as we said, we anticipate that 2026 is going to be pretty quiet on the Dune front. We might get a teaser trailer for Dune Part 3 in the summer or fall, but we're really not anticipating anything until later in the year, right? That doesn't mean that we're sitting around twiddling our thumbs going, oh, poor us. Guess there's nothing to talk about. We have a lot to get through before our Part 3 and Prophecy Season 2 coverage kicks into high gears. And along those lines, we have a couple of big projects to complete or continue, namely the books by Frank Herbert. Ever heard of them? The Book club series, and of course also our Fullerton Archive series, which we have only scratched the surface of the.
- [23:10]
B
Truly, truly. So let's break down 2026 a little bit and our goals and projects for the year, starting with the book club, of course. It feels kind of wild to say this, Leo, but 2026 is the year that we are going to complete our deep dive, chapter by chapter, read through of every Dune book by Frank Herbert.
- [23:33]
A
Insane.
- [23:34]
B
Yeah, wild. Yeah, wild. I still remember the conversations we had years ago talking about whether or not we should cover the first book and whether we would ever cover anything beyond the first book. And here we are talking about Chapter house.
- [23:47]
A
I remember the visceral, like head spinning sensation of starting Messiah and then talking to you roughly about. And then in 2026 we'll do chapter house and it being like, but it's 2021, right? Like, oh no, we're gonna be over by the Jennifer Lawrence meme. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean?
- [24:13]
B
It's wild.
- [24:14]
A
And we're here. We're almost at the finish line. It's insane.
- [24:17]
B
We're almost to the finish line. In fact, with patrons on the Patreon feed, we expect to actually wrap up Chapter House Dune in June of this year, in 2026. And then of course, for you listeners who are always three months behind on those episodes, we'll catch up and finish the book in September of this year. Now, many of you have asked, what happens next? What happens when you're done with Chapter House Dune? Are you going to continue your book club episodes on the massive catalog of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson prequel and sequel novels?
- [24:53]
A
Hell, yeah. Let's go. 2037. We're talking about Paula. Dude, just go down. Let's go.
- [25:04]
B
This is extremely unexpected energy because in the script in front of me, it says, no, we're not going to do that. So we have a definitive answer. We've sort of punted this question down the line for years about what we're going to do after Chapter House. Today we're here with a definitive answer for you. We're not interested in spending a bunch of time and effort on any of the Brian Herbert or Kevin J. Anderson books. You all, at this point, probably know our thoughts on those books. They lack the depth and quality of Frank's writing. And so we just don't think that it'll be fun for us to produce book club episodes on books that we're not enjoying. And ultimately, we don't think it'll be fun for you, dear listener, to listen to us, like, gripe and moan our way through a bunch of books that we are not enjoying.
- [25:52]
A
Yeah, I think we can all agree that we are at our best and we're making our best content when we are excited and energized and invested. And when we have done coverage of Brian Herbert topics, we tend to get a little bit more cynical, a little bit more snide, sarcastic, sometimes even mean. And it is fun. Like, again, shocker. It's fun to be a little bit mean sometimes. But then people would send us messages being like, I just don't like it. I just don't like that energy. And honestly, we don't love it either. So, yeah, it's this question of, like, could we even do it justice for the people who really love those books. I just don't think we are the ones to do that and make someone else will come along and do it better. That being said, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson did write the conclusion of Frank's series, so they claim, until we see the notes. So we have agreed that we are going to cover the final two books in the Dune saga. So that's Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. I'm pretty sure that's right. We will probably do like two or three episodes on each. We're not going to do like, you know the 22 episodes of Chapter House. We're not going to do that level of coverage, but we will talk about them.
- [27:16]
B
Yeah. Just so we can say we completed the Dune saga and saw the story to its end. Now our other big project for the year is definitely going to keep us busy. We need to continue waiting in 2026 through the treasure trove of documents that we uncovered at the Fullerton archives on your and Luna's trip out there. Yeah, we've already released a number of episodes about some of the things that we've dug up. For example, our most recent interviews with Frank episode about Techno Peasantry was all thanks to some documents from the Fullerton archives. We also released a lost entries episode about an unpublished draft of an encyclopedia article about planet Earth in the Dune universe. And there's actually many, many more unpublished drafts that we have our hands on that we still need to parse through and decide which ones to share. So there's still a lot to go through, and we'll continue doing that over the course of 2026 and releasing episodes on what we find buried in all of that text. I will say those episodes require tons of research, more even than our book clubs and our typical episodes. And they require tons of fact checking. And so they are some of the most arduous and slow episodes to produce. So we do appreciate your patience. Like, we. Those aren't the kinds of episodes we can release, like every week or even every other week. Those will come out sporadically as the research gets done.
- [28:45]
A
Now, another big victory in 2025 was something that was very near and dear to my heart, which was that we were stuck on a bad merchandise platform called Teespring. If you hear anyone talk about Teespring, just hiss.
- [28:59]
B
Leo said name. I'm going to name names.
- [29:02]
A
Y They're terrible. They're awful. Don't work with them. We in November migrated our merchandise offerings to Fourth Wall, and Fourth Wall is much better. It's used by a number of content creators that we love. The experience has been phenomenal so far. So the Gomjabbar Shop merchandise store is brand new. But I also bring that up because as we look down the barrel of 2026, I've already been hard at work. You've seen some of my new designs and in the merchandise store. But I have lots of plans. I would call them ambitious even for more goodies, more designs, enamel pins, all sorts of stuff. But also I've really enjoyed making. Like the Papercraft Ornithopter was not amazing, but I Want to do better. I want to make it better. I want to make it more fun. The Moad Libs, like Mad Libs book that I sent out to our patrons.
- [29:59]
B
So cute. Yeah.
- [30:00]
A
These are things that I think are not only fun to own, but are also fun experiences. And I like that idea of people coming together and having a good time with other Dune fans. Or just, like, you know, get some time away from a screen and just have fun with your friends. I like that. So lots of exciting things there.
- [30:19]
B
That's right. Okay, one last note on our content and production plans for 2026. A lot of you enjoyed our Dungeons of Dune D and D episodes. We got so much positive feedback about those that we did with our Dungeon Master, Noah, who is incredible. And many of you since then have been asking us when more episodes are coming out, when we're bringing that back. Where is Noah? Has anyone seen Noah? What happened to Noah?
- [30:47]
A
We love Noah. They're amazing. We love Noah so much. Young Lord, Young Lord, Young Prince, Young Lord. Pocket wine. Lots of things.
- [30:56]
B
That's right. So we have tracked down Noah. We know where they are. The young Lord has been found. And no promises on how and when exactly this series will return and in what shape it will return, but we'll be chatting with Noah soon to talk through some ideas and figure out schedules with them. So hang tight. We hear you about the D and D episodes. Honestly, we kind of did those on a whim because we thought it would be fun and we didn't expect such a positive response to them. So hang tight. We're hoping that D and D will be back in 2026 in some shape or form.
- [31:37]
A
It started off like one of those Marvel tags where, like, Steve Rogers will return. It's like D and D will be. We are hoping that D and D may possibly come back at some point. It's like, oh, I guess I. Yeah, okay, Enough fucking preamble. Secret.
- [32:00]
B
That was all preamble.
- [32:01]
A
It was all preamble. 43 minutes, 40 seconds. Erase it all. Now. It's the real conversation. Secret project.
- [32:11]
B
Oh, okay. We've have begun teasing this a little bit, and now that we're done looking back at 2025 and talking about our hopes and dreams for 2026, before we let you go, we do want to tease just a couple of small details about this ambitious new project that we're planning for, hopefully 2027.
- [32:33]
A
Yeah.
- [32:34]
B
And of course, how you can get involved as early as right now.
- [32:40]
A
Yeah.
- [32:42]
B
So before we get into it, we want to be very, very Clear that this project is still in very early development. Emphasis on. Very emphasis on early.
- [32:55]
A
Emphasis on mint of development. Because our breath. Freshy clean.
- [33:01]
B
So clean. Yum.
- [33:03]
A
So clean.
- [33:03]
B
Minty. So this project is going to need many months of work before it's truly ready for the public spotlight. And so with that in mind, we're making a small tweak to the Gom Jabbar release schedule for 2026. Just so we have time to dedicate to this project.
- [33:25]
A
Yeah.
- [33:25]
B
On the last Friday of every month for 2026, in lieu of a new episode, we'll instead be re releasing an old favorite from the archives with fresh commentary and insights. So think of these like re releases of old episodes with directors commentary tracks.
- [33:46]
A
Yeah.
- [33:47]
B
Like DVDs used to have.
- [33:48]
A
Yeah. Oh, I love those.
- [33:50]
B
And we think this is a fun way to resurface old episodes that literally haven't seen the light of day in years now.
- [33:58]
A
Yeah.
- [33:59]
B
Some of these episodes, honestly, even you and I have not listened to since making them. We made them. We put them out in the world and then we just moved on with our lives. And it's been like five years.
- [34:07]
A
We had a weekly show to produce. I didn't have time to listen to Maya. Right.
- [34:11]
B
Go back and listen to stuff. No way. So we're going to go back to the early, early episodes we did and listen to them and provide some fun sort of behind the scenes director's commentary in addition to re releasing that episode. Doing that will give us the time every month to dedicate to this secret project.
- [34:32]
A
Indeed. So let's talk in frustratingly vague terms about this project we're working on. And here's what we can tease at the mom.
- [34:43]
B
Right?
- [34:44]
A
Detail number one. It's not about Dune, but same wheelhouse, same vibe. I like wheels as we have. We love wheels. Love a wheel. Round load bearing. Love a wheel. Love it. Well, here's the thing, Abu. You and I have discovered we love talking about sci fi. We love talking about stories and world building and analysis, layers and layers. We. We love that.
- [35:13]
B
We love it.
- [35:13]
A
That's so good. And Dune has been an incredible mine of content within which we can play. Yes, we are thinking very similar stuff. Same wheelhouse. That's the idea. Love a wheel. Love a wheel. Now, this project does not have a name yet, but we have a code name we will share with you today. This might give you an idea. It's called Project Reanalog. Mmm.
- [35:41]
B
Okay. Codename, Project Reanalog. Okay. That's Detail one and Detail two. Here's the Third detail we can share today. Project Reanalog will have two components. One will be an audio component. Something you all are very comfortable with and listening to right now.
- [35:58]
A
Yeah.
- [35:59]
B
Two, Project Reanalog is going to have a physical component. Something you can hold in your hands and hold up to your chest, near your heart.
- [36:10]
A
Cuddle deep into the night, sleep with, Sleep with, not sexually.
- [36:15]
B
You know, I'm just saying, like.
- [36:16]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [36:20]
B
We're giving too much away about our line of sex products. This is crazy.
- [36:24]
A
Body pillows. Leo Nabu body pillows.
- [36:30]
B
So that's detail number three. It's going to have a physical and audio component.
- [36:34]
A
Yeah. Or another way to think about it is multimedia.
- [36:37]
B
Yes.
- [36:38]
A
What does that mean? You'll have to find out later. Now, detail number four. We will be primary voices of this project.
- [36:48]
B
Right.
- [36:48]
A
It'll be a lot of us. But we do want to emphasize this project is also about elevating other voices, bringing on other people, making sure that, you know, rising Tide, all ships, whatever the fuck that saying is. That's the vibe is.
- [37:05]
B
Yes.
- [37:06]
A
Although we will be the primary voices, we're also going to be celebrating and featuring other talented folks.
- [37:12]
B
That's right. Okay. Here's the last thing we can say about this project at the moment. Project Reanalog.
- [37:17]
A
Yeah.
- [37:18]
B
This is my favorite detail, actually. Project Reanalog is going to be putting Leo's art degree to work, baby.
- [37:27]
A
That's true. That is true.
- [37:33]
B
Those art degree jokes we've been making.
- [37:35]
A
For six years now, it's all been.
- [37:38]
B
Have finally come to roost.
- [37:40]
A
Yeah. All coming to roost. Oh, I like that. I haven't heard someone use that idiom in a minute. Yeah. We've been building that nest twig by twig, and finally coming to roost.
- [37:49]
B
That's right.
- [37:50]
A
Indeed.
- [37:51]
B
Yeah. So there it is, folks. Those are the five details that at the moment, we're ready to share about Project Reanalog. It's not about Dune. It's in the same wheelhouse right now. It doesn't have a name. It's just called Project Reanalog. There's a physical and audio component. We'll be the primary voices, but we will be featuring other talented folks in the project. And Leo's art degree is going to play a pivotal role in making this project a success.
- [38:17]
A
And all that time in France, just working on this thing now, we are going to be keeping the nitty gritty details of this mostly under wraps as we work on it. But we mentioned you have the ability to start today, supporting us as we work on Project Reanalog. And this is how you can do that. This is where all of you come in. Yes, we want to gather feedback, we want to get your thoughts, your insights. But we also do face the practicalities of production.
- [38:50]
B
Right.
- [38:50]
A
It's going to be time consuming and effectively then expensive on a time front. So for patrons, if you are currently a patron of the Fremen Nabe or Kwisatz Haderach level, I've got great news for you. You're there. You're gonna be. You're in, baby. You're already in the door. This is a club we built around you. But we are going to be sharing updates, we're going to be getting feedback ideas. We're going to be posting these on Patreon and on a Discord channel accessible only to those levels. So for anybody who's not a Fremen name or lower, if you're just like a member of the tribe or off world or like whatever those other levels are, you have the option you can upgrade to be that level to give a little bit extra to support this project that we're working on and give your feedback and participate. But really, like, again, your monthly support is what's going to help us get this project off the ground. And the feedback we get is going to be our North Star that guides us toward making something that Abu and I are like, good at making. That it is something that we enjoy making, that we're making a very high level. But that also is going to be something that other people will want to listen to. Because as much as we love talking and we love recording, we ultimately want to make something that brings joy to people's lives and helps people find community and helps make those long hours of whatever you got going on just a little bit more enjoyable. That's the goal. So your feedback is going to be invaluable for that.
- [40:23]
B
Indeed. And actually, supporters at those levels at the Fremen AB and Kwisatz Haderach levels can expect their first peek at an early prototype of Project Reanalog in February. As early as February 2026, we'll share some details with those supporters and start asking for your early ideas and feedback. And we'll continue to do that with Fremen Nabe and Quizad's Haderac level supporters every couple of months as we have new things to share with all of you and as we gather more feedback from all of you and shape the project, hopefully together over the course of the year.
- [41:02]
A
Indeed.
- [41:03]
B
Very exciting. It's something we're genuinely both really excited about. I think it's kind of lit a fire of creativity that I personally haven't been feeling in a. In a while. You know, it's exciting to be looking at the. Perhaps the birth of something new that could consume my life for the next six years.
- [41:21]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, Gom Jabbar is and will always be something I'm deeply, deeply proud of, but I think.
- [41:29]
B
Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
- [41:30]
A
There is that kind of ongoing rub of we've found our people like our patrons, our community. These are the Dune people. Y' all are amazing. And then we. We talk to other people who would also be a lovely part of our community, but they're just not into Dune for whatever reason, because they're wrong and bad people, awful humans. And the question is, how do we get them in the fold as well? How do we provide for them? And I. I'm. Yeah, I'm excited.
- [41:58]
B
Yeah.
- [41:58]
A
It'll be fun to show you all in February. So again, that gives people time to re up their subscription and change to NABE if you want to. Of course, you don't have to. Maybe we'll. Maybe we'll give a little sneaks and peeks occasionally, but for feedback and stuff like that. Yeah, NAB and above.
- [42:15]
B
That's right. Okay, that's it for the State of the Imperium 2026, folks. There's everything we have to share about our numbers, about changes on the team, about our goals and the projects, the huge projects we will be working on in 2026. And then of course, the big secret project that will be cooking up in the background over the course of the year. A big year for us, personally, professionally. And I really can't wait to dive into it with you, Leo, and get through another great year of com Jabbar and more with our audience and our listeners and our community. And I think to wrap up, we say this all the time, but I think it's important for us to say it here at the end of the State of the Imperium. We just want to thank you for being with us. It's been an incredible six years of making this show and we've gone down golden paths we never expected in 2020. These were not part of our pressing visions back then. We did not know this is where we'd end up. And this project has truly helped me grow personally and professionally in ways that I never would have expected. And Leo, you've played a huge part in that. But this show, our audience, our listeners, our supporters, folks in Discord folks we've become friends with over the years. They've played a huge part in shaping me personally and shaping this project. And so I'm eternally grateful for these past six years and I can't wait for the next six.
- [43:45]
A
Yeah, very, very excited and same. I think it's in some ways it's like we are the most equipped that we've ever been to make as good of quality product as we can.
- [43:55]
B
Yeah.
- [43:56]
A
So it's all uphill from here. It's only uphill from the last six shitty years of just fucking improvise. Now we know.
- [44:06]
B
Now we.
- [44:06]
A
And I'm sure in five years I'll look back and go, that was the moment they had all the answers. And I'm sure in five years we're not going to look back and go, my God, we were naive.
- [44:17]
B
Wow, those naive fools.
- [44:18]
A
It always happens, but it's fine.
- [44:20]
B
That's right. All right, y', all, thanks so much. We're excited for another great year and we will see you in the next episode of Gom Jabbar. Welcome to 2026, baby.
- [44:32]
A
Happy New Year, folks. Well, friends, there is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the recording. But this podcast is always one step beyond logic. So help spread the word of Muad'dib and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And be sure to check out the other shows on the Lower Party Podcast network network on loreparty.com you can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram at lore underscoreparty. We're also on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening. And hey, remember, whoever controls the podcast controls the universe. We'll see you on the golden path.
- [45:23]
B
How many discounts does USAA Auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi vehicle discount, Safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, Storage discount.
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A
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