Tyrant has been ordered to series by FX; a drama from Gideon Raff, the creator of Israeli series Prisoners of War, which was remade as Homeland for Showtime. Howard Gordon, a producer on Homeland, will serve in that capacity for Tyrant alongside Six Feet Under's Craig Wright (the showrunner).
The series concerns Bassam "Barry" Al Fayeed (Adam Raynor), the son of a Middle Eastern dictator who fled to the US and raised an American family. 20 years later, Barry is drawn back to his birthplace to attend the wedding of a nephew, only to become embroiled in a violent, political family drama. The show will co-star Jennifer Finnigan, Ashraf Barhom, Moran Atias, Anne Winters, Fares Fares, Salim Daw, Noah Silver, Justin Kirk, Mehdi Dehbi, Jordana Spiro & Alice Krige.
Howard Gordon, executive-producer:
"From the moment Gideon [Raff] pitched me the idea, I felt that this was a tremendous opportunity to humanise and dramatise the faces behind the headlines that we read about every day. We'll also get to explore the tension between power and family loyalty."John Landgraf, CEO of FX Networks & FX Productions:
"With Tyrant, Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff and Craig Wright have produced a beautiful television pilot that will be a ground breaking television series. Tyrant introduces characters and a world that have never been explored in a dramatic television series format. There is a reason a bidding war broke out over this project: It grabs you as all great epics do and simply refuses to let go!"High praise, indeed, and it may be well-deserved, as I've heard the pilot script is phenomenally good. Tyrant begins production on no less than 10 episodes in Tel Aviv next March, aiming for a summer 2014 release on FX. The pilot was directed by David Yates (State of Play, Harry Potter).
