A pediatrician who spent two decades avoiding his family's throne gets pulled back into it the moment he returns home for a wedding.
What is Tyrant about?
Barry Al-Fayeed built a quiet medical practice in California, keeping distance from a father who ruled an unnamed Middle Eastern country. A nephew's wedding brings him back for what he intends as a short visit with his wife and two children. Old rivalries, a volatile succession and the machinery of his family's regime pull him deeper into the country's politics than he planned, testing how much of his old identity he can leave behind a second time.
About the cast
Adam Rayner plays Barry, opposite Jennifer Finnigan as his wife. Moran Atias, Ashraf Barhom, Noah Silver, Anne Winters, Sibylla Deen and Waleed Elgadi round out a large ensemble spanning the ruling family, its inner circle and the wider country around them, giving the show several competing centers of power rather than one villain and one hero.
Context & significance
Created by Gideon Raff, who also developed Prisoners of War, the series that later inspired Homeland, Tyrant applies a similar interest in the private cost of political power to a fictional Middle Eastern state rather than a real one. The production drew cast and crew from Turkey, the United States and Israel, and the show leans on that regional texture for its palaces, checkpoints and street-level scenes alike. The show spreads its attention across the ruling family's palace circle, the military and ordinary households caught between them, which keeps the drama from resolving into a simple story about one man reluctantly claiming power.
Watching Tyrant on Ktime
New viewers can start Tyrant on K-Time after setting up a free account; no separate purchase is required. The service's Farsi-language interface makes it straightforward for Persian-speaking viewers to browse to a political drama like this one and queue up episodes in order. Episodes are organized in order on the title's K-Time page, so a new viewer can move through the season without hunting for the next installment.