''Tut'' is a Canadian-American

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

that premiered on U.S. cable network

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

on July 19, 2015. The three-part miniseries is based on the life of

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

Development

''Tut'' was first announced by Spike in May 2014. The miniseries marks a return by the network towards scripted programming, and in particular, "

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of e ...

" series that cater to a "balanced" audience (in contrast to the remainder of Spike's programming at the time, which has typically skewed towards a male audience). Such event series have also been recently popular among other networks, such as

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. ''Tut'' is produced by

Muse Entertainment Muse Entertainment is a Canadian producer of films and television programs founded by Michael Prupas in 1998. The company gained press attention in 2011 for their production of the multi-Emmy winning and nominated miniseries '' The Kennedys'' in as ...

, best known for its other miniseries '' The Kennedys'' and ''

The Pillars of the Earth ''The Pillars of the Earth'' is a historical novel by British author Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, England. Set in the 12th century, the novel covers the time between the ...

''.

Cast

Main cast

Avan Jogia Avan Tudor Jogia (; born February 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor. He first received recognition for portraying Danny Araujo in the television film '' A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story'' (2006). After moving to the United States in his late te ...

, the young Pharaoh of Egypt *

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two ...

as Ay, the Grand Vizier. *

Nonso Anozie Nonso Anozie (; born 17 November 1978) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Tank in ''RocknRolla'', Sergeant Dap in ''Ender's Game'', Abraham Kenyatta in ''Zoo'', Captain of the Guards in ''Cinderella'', Xaro Xhoan Daxos in th ...

as General Horemheb, Tutankhamun's savvy and power hungry military strategist. *

Sibylla Deen Sibylla Deen is an Australian actress. She is known for her portrayals of Nusrat Al Fayeed in the American television series ''Tyrant'', Queen Ankhesenamun in the miniseries '' Tut'' and Blair in the Netflix miniseries, ''The I-Land''. Life a ...

Ankhesenamun Ankhesenamun (, "Her Life Is of Amun"; c. 1348 or c. 1342 – after 1322 BC) was a queen who lived during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt as the pharaoh Akhenaten's daughter and subsequently became the Great Royal Wife of pharaoh Tutankhamun. Born Ank ...

, the calculating and conniving sister-wife of Tutankhamun *

Alexander Siddig Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi (born 21 November 1965) is a Sudanese-born English actor and director known professionally as Siddig El Fadil and subsequently as Alexander Siddig. Siddig i ...

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

, the High Priest, a major political figure who holds great influence in Tutankhamun's inner sanctum. *

Kylie Bunbury Kylie Bunbury (born January 30, 1989) is a Canadian-American actress. Life Bunbury was born in Montreal, Canada, to Kristi Novak and Alex Bunbury, a soccer player. Her father is Guyanese-Canadian. She spent her childhood in England (for two yea ...

as Suhad, a beautiful and endearing girl of

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...

descent, who unknowingly saves Tutankhamun's life and develops a strong bond with the Pharaoh. *

Peter Gadiot Peter Gadiot (; born 2 January 1986) is a British actor. He portrayed the role of James Valdez in the hit USA Network show '' Queen of the South''. He also played Cyrus in ABC's '' Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'' and Adam in Showtime’s ''Y ...

as Ka, King Tutankhamun's close confidant and seemingly loyal friend. *

Iddo Goldberg Iddo Goldberg ( he, עדו גולדברג; born 5 August 1975) is an Israeli-British actor born in Israel. He is known for his roles as Ben in ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'', Freddie Thorne in ''Peaky Blinders'', Isaac Walton in '' Salem'' and ...

as Lagus, an Egyptian soldier who develops a special bond with Tutankhamun. * Alistair Toovey as Nahkt, Ay's stepson. *

Steve Toussaint Steve Toussaint (born 22 March 1965) is a British actor and writer. He first gained prominence through his role in the ITV crime drama '' The Knock'' (1994–2000). As of 2022, he plays Corlys Velaryon in the HBO fantasy series ''House of th ...

Tushratta Tushratta (Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, c. 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His si ...

, king of the Mitanni.

Supporting cast

* Kaizer Akhtar as young Tutankhamun. *

Silas Carson Silas Carson (born 1965) is an English actor, mostly known for playing Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi and Viceroy Nute Gunray in all three of the ''Star Wars'' prequels and providing the voice of the Ood in ''Doctor Who''. Life and career In ''Sta ...

as Pharaoh

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

, the father of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. * Steve Chusak as Paranefer, Akhenaten's servant. * Alexander Lyras as General

Yuya Yuya (sometimes Iouiya, or Yuaa, also known as Yaa, Ya, Yiya, Yayi, Yu, Yuyu, Yaya, Yiay, Yia, and Yuy) was a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC). He was married to Thuya, an Egyptian noble ...

. * Geoffrey Burton as

Dagi Dagi was an ancient Egyptian vizier during the reign of pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty. Dagi is mainly known from his tomb in Western Thebes ( TT103), which was once decorated with paintings and reliefs. From the reliefs only smal ...

, chief physician of the Egyptians. *

Leon Lopez Leon Lopez (born 30 August 1979, in Liverpool) is a British actor, television and film director, singer-songwriter and occasional model, best known for playing the role of Jerome Johnson in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Brookside'' from 1998 to 20 ...

as Sete. *

Daniela Lavender Daniela Lavender, Lady Kingsley ( Barbosa de Carneiro; 14 December 1974) is a Brazilian actress, appearing on Brazilian television and on English-language television, film and stage, including touring with the British Shakespeare Company. Ear ...

as Herit. * Ismail Kanater as the Priest of

Sobek Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its f ...

Episodes

Reception

The series has garnered mixed reviews, with a score of 46 on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

and 37% on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Brian Lowery of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' writes, "King Tutankhamun left behind a treasure trove of trinkets, but his nickname is all that's really required to serve as the cornerstone for ''Tut'', the miniseries that unearths the Boy King in order to turn his short life into historical melodrama. Featuring Ben Kingsley as Tut's scheming vizier, surrounded by young actors often photographed as if this were a shampoo commercial, there are modest pleasures relating to the various palace intrigues, but only marginal momentum to drag an audience across three nights, provided they know enough about history to realize the title character won't be available for a sequel." Robert Bianco of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' exclaims, "''Tut'' miniseries is overstuffed melodrama." While, Keith Uhlich of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' writes, "Spike network's three-night miniseries about the Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun inspires no devotion."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tut 2010s American drama television miniseries 2015 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings American biographical series Cultural depictions of Tutankhamun Erotic television series Historical television series Spike (TV network) original programming Television shows set in ancient Egypt