political drama
A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events.
Dramatists who have written political dramas in ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
created by director and writer Gideon Raff and developed by
Howard Gordon
Howard Gordon (born March 31, 1961) is an American television writer and producer.
He is well known for his work on the Fox action series '' 24'' alongside the Showtime thriller ''Homeland'', which he co-developed with Alex Gansa and Gideon ...
and Craig Wright. The first season of ''Tyrant'' consisting of 10 episodes premiered on American
cable network
Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, op ...
FX on June 24, 2014, and ended on August 26, 2014. Subsequently, FX then went on to renew ''Tyrant'' for a second season which premiered on June 16, 2015, and ended on September 1, 2015.
On October 8, 2015, the network renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on July 6, 2016. On September 7, 2016, FX announced it had cancelled the series after three seasons.
Premise
Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed, the younger of two sons of an infamous Middle-Eastern tyrant, has been running from his past for 20 years. Now a
pediatrician
Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...
living in the United States, he has an American wife, son and daughter, and no desire to revisit his familial origins. However, when he is reluctantly compelled to return to his home country (the fictional Abuddin) for his nephew's wedding, he is quickly drawn into a taut political crisis when his father dies in the midst of a growing popular revolution against the ruling family. Bassam must now attempt to use his influence to guide the new President, his brutal and unstable older brother Jamal, to a political solution that will avert a bloody conflict.
Cast
Main
*
Adam Rayner
Adam Chance Abbs Rayner (born 28 August 1977) is an English actor. He is known for television roles including: Dominic Montgomery in ''Mistresses'', Dr. Steve Shaw in ''Hawthorne'', Aidan Marsh in '' Hunted'', Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed in ''Tyran ...
as Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed (Khalil in seclusion): the second son of Khaled Al-Fayeed, the long-term dictator of Abuddin, and Amira Al-Fayeed. He has been in self-imposed exile in Pasadena, working as a pediatrician.
*
Jennifer Finnigan
Jennifer Christina Finnigan (born August 22, 1979) is a Canadians, Canadian actress, best known for her role as Bridget Forrester in the American soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' from 2000 to 2004, for which she won three Daytime Emmy Aw ...
as Molly Al-Fayeed: Barry's wife.
*
Ashraf Barhom
Ashraf Barhom ( ar, أشرف برهوم, he, אשרף ברהום; born January 8, 1979) is an Palestinian Arab actor from Tarshiha, in Galilee, Israel. He has starred in '' The Kingdom'', ''Paradise Now'', '' By Any Means'' and '' The Syrian Bri ...
as Jamal Al-Fayeed: Barry's older brother who takes over the presidency of Abuddin upon his father's death.
*
Fares Fares
Fares Fares (; born 29 April 1973) is a Swedish-Lebanese actor of Assyrian descent.
Early life
Fares was born in Beirut, Lebanon. His younger brother is director Josef Fares, and he has four sisters. In 1987, when Fares was 14 years old, his ...
as Fauzi Nadal (season 1; special guest seasons 2–3): freedom-fighting reporter and Barry's childhood friend.
*
Moran Atias
Moran Atias ( he, מורן אטיאס; born 9 April 1981) is an Israeli actress and model. She gained fame in the Italian films ''Gas'', '' Oggi sposi'', and '' Mother of Tears''. She is best known for her work with Paul Haggis in the 2008 TV ...
as Leila Al-Fayeed: Jamal's wife.
* Noah Silver as Sami Al-Fayeed: Barry's and Molly's son, who is gay.
* Anne Winters as Emma Al-Fayeed (season 1; special guest seasons 2–3): Barry and Molly's daughter.
* Salim Daw as Yussef (season 1): the longtime top political advisor to the President of Abuddin. He is in this position under both Khaled and Jamal's presidencies.
*
Mehdi Dehbi
Mehdi Dehbi (born 5 December 1985) is a Belgian actor and theatre director, known for his roles in ' (2009, English title: ''He is My Girl''), ' (2011), '' Le Fils de l'Autre'' (2012, English title: ''The Other Son''), ''Mary Queen of Scots'' (20 ...
as Abdul (season 1): a young man from Abuddin who works as a security officer for the Al-Fayeed family.
*
Alice Krige
Alice Maud Krige (; born 28 June 1954) is a South African actress and producer. Her first feature film role was in ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981) as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon. She played the dual role of Eva Galli/Alma Mobley i ...
as Amira Al-Fayeed (seasons 1–2): the matriarch of the Al-Fayeed clan (Jamal and Barry's mother).
*
Justin Kirk
Justin Kirk (born May 28, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Prior Walter in Mike Nichols's screen adaptation of ''Angels in America'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting A ...
as John Tucker (season 1): a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in Abuddin.
* Alexander Karim as Ihab Rashid (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1): Sheik Rashid's son and the current resistance leader who has his own aspirations to take over the government.
*
Cameron Gharaee
Cameron Gharaee is an American actor known for his role as Ahmed Al-Fayeed on the FX series ''Tyrant''. In 2013, he portrayed the role of Stillman Frank in a multi-episode arc of the HBO series '' The Newsroom''.
Early life
Gharaee was raised i ...
as Ahmed Al-Fayeed (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1): Jamal's and Leila's son, and next in line for leadership after Jamal. He is later revealed to be Barry's son.
*
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 ...
Melia Kreiling
Melia Kreiling (born ) is an actress. She is known for her roles on television series such as ''Tyrant'' and ''The Last Tycoon'', and for her starring role as Alycia in the second season of the CBS summer series ''Salvation''. She also has a bri ...
as Daliyah Al-Yazbek (season 3; recurring season 2): Ahmos Al-Yazbek's younger wife.
*
Chris Noth
Christopher David Noth ( ; born November 13, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on ''Law & Order'' (1990–95), Big on ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on ''The ...
as General William Cogswell (season 3): a US military leader brought in to ensure American interests in the Middle East are protected under Barry's presidency.
Recurring
* Nasser Faris as Khaled Al-Fayeed: the President of Abuddin prior to Jamal. Is Jamal and Barry's father, and is married to Amira.
* Mor Polanuer as Samira Nadal: Fauzi Nadal's 20-year-old daughter, a Muslim girl in active opposition to the Al-Fayeed family, who fights bravely for the principles in which she believes.
* Raad Rawi as General Tariq Al-Fayeed: Khaled's brother, the top military leader of Abuddin.
*
Mohammad Bakri
Mohammad Bakri (born 1953; ar, محمد بكري, he, מוחמד בכרי) is a Palestinian actor and film director.Wrenn Schmidt as Jenna Olson: Molly's younger sister, who suddenly appears in Abuddin and surprises Molly and her family. A free-spirited young woman whose reckless ways are usually met with disapproval from Molly and Barry.
*
Leslie Hope
Leslie Ann Hope is a Canadian actress and director, best known for her role as Teri Bauer on the Fox television series '' 24'' and prosecutor Anita Gibbs on ''Suits''.
Personal life
Hope was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Ann and Frank Hop ...
as Lea Exley: an employee of the U.S. Embassy.
*
Jake Weber
Jake T. Weber (born 12 March 1963) is an English actor, known in film for his role as Michael in '' Dawn of the Dead'' and for his role as Drew in '' Meet Joe Black''. On television, he is best-known for playing Joe DuBois, the sleep-deprived ...
as Jimmy Timmons: a lawyer.
*
Peter Polycarpou
Peter Polycarpou is an English-Cypriot actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' and Louis Charalambos in ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies''.
Early life
Polycarpou w ...
as Mahmoud Al-Ghazi: a Colonel in the Abuddin military under Jamal's presidency.
* Nathan Clarke as Munir Al-Yazbek: one of Ahmos' sons.
*
Armin Karima
Armin Karima is an Iranian/British actor known for his role as Abdul Bukhari in BBC Waterloo Road, Ant in IBoy, Kasim Al-Yazbek in FOX series Tyrant and Malek Amir in Netflix series Sex Education.
Career
While training Karima booked his first ...
as Kasim Al-Yazbek: one of Ahmos' sons.
*
Keon Alexander
Keon Alexander, also known as Keon Mohajeri, is a Canadian actor best known for his television roles as Marco Inaros in ''The Expanse'', Rami Said in ''Tyrant'' and Dominick Baptiste in ''Impulse''.
Biography
Alexander is of Persian heritage. H ...
as Rami Said: a General in the Abuddinian military.
*
Ariyon Bakare
Ariyon Bakare () is an English actor. He has appeared in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'' (2001–2005) as Ben Kwarme, the Amazon Prime series ''Good Omens'' and ''Carnival Row'' (2019), and the BBC series ''His Dark Materials''. Prior to this, ...
as Solomon: an African military leader.
* Khaled Abol Naga as Hussein Al-Qadi: a cleric.
*
Annet Mahendru
Anita Devi "Annet" Mahendru (born November 5, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for playing Nina Sergeevna Krilova on the FX period drama series ''The Americans'' (2013–2016), for which she garnered a nomination for the Critics' Ch ...
as Nafisa Al-Qadi: Al-Qadi's wife.
* Joseph Long as Abd Aziz: a trusted head in the palace.
Episodes
Production
While the show was filmed throughout many cities in Israel (such as
Kfar Saba
Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...
,
Petach Tikva
Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Jews of the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent set ...
, and
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
) and
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, because of violence between
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, FX moved its production from Israel to
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
in 2014. The fictional Arab country of "Abuddin" is deliberately compiled out of mixed elements of a few different actual countries, in order to not appear to simulate a particular nation or situation. The producers of the series have also said that no particular sects or clans will be named while relating details. Executive producer Howard Gordon stated, "We do want to stay away from reality and yet hew to it as long as it sort of feels emotionally correct and culturally correct. I think we’re going to try to stay away from names as much as possible."
The first television promos appeared in April 2014, featuring an excerpt of the song "Wave" from the album ''
Morning Phase
''Morning Phase'' is the twelfth official studio album and twelfth overall by American singer Beck. The album was released in February 2014 by his new label, Capitol Records. According to a press release, ''Morning Phase'' is a "companion piece" ...
'' by
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...
.
Season 3 episodes were also filmed in Budapest, Hungary (June 2016).
Reception
''Tyrant'' has received mixed reviews. On
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 ...
, the show holds a score of 54 out of 100 (78 out of 100 for the user review base on 150 critics), based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On
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 ...
, the show has a rating of 60%, based on 47 reviews, with an above average score of 6.2 out of 10. The consensus on the site reads: "Realizing a uniquely vital representation of life in the Middle East, ''Tyrant'' mostly thrives as a biting family drama set against immersive scenery".
The pilot episode had been criticized by some for Adam Rayner's lackluster performance, the show's depiction of the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, and for being boring – others have said it is a nuanced performance in an understandably complicated role. Alan Sepinwall at
HitFix
HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...
labeled the show "messy", and criticized Adam Rayner's performance as Barry: "Rayner is so bland, so lacking in charisma in the role – Barry is by nature, a quieter, more reserved character, but there are ways to play silence that aren't remotely this dull – that it's baffling that Gordon and company would go to the trouble and risk the justifiable anger over the casting."
Some reviews were more positive. Melissa Maerz at ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave the show a B−, enjoying it, but admitting that the show could use some work: "With so much attention focused on this American series set in the Middle East, ''Tyrant'' is already an important show. Now it just has to prove that it's also a good one." At ''
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
''. June 10, 2015. He also praised Barhom's work, saying the actor overshadowed Rayner: "Through his layered performance, Barhom brings a smoldering intensity to the role and practically drips with testosterone," Cordova writes.
The show's depiction of Jamal al-Fayeed as a rapist was also criticized. Maureen Ryan at ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' accused the show of using Jamal's sexual assaults to add "edge" and "atmosphere" to the show: "The women in these scenes are devices—they are there to create an atmosphere of danger or to move the plot along." ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'''s Emily VanDerWerff also agreed that the sexual assaults were used as plot devices: "The pilot is far too cavalier about throwing around sexual assault as a plot point, even if it's trying to make a point about women's rights in Middle Eastern nations." She added that the scenes "leave a bad taste in the mouth".
Ratings
Home media release
On January 13, 2015, Fox Home Entertainment released the first season of ''Tyrant'' on DVD. As of June 14, 2016, the 2nd season on DVD is available for purchase on Amazon, but is manufactured on demand. The third and final season was released on DVD on August 8, 2017.
As of September 24, 2020, the series is available for streaming on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...