Author: Charles Murphy

Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight has consistently generated buzz over the past few weeks since the first look at the show was released. So far, the footage has mainly focused on Oscar Isaac’s Steven Grant as he struggles to make sense out of some disturbing events, most of which he can’t be sure are real. Beyond that, outside of a few glimpses of Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow, the rest of the cast hasn’t been revealed.

Now, thanks to still believed to be from Empire’s coverage of the series, fans have their first look at May Calamawy’s mysterious character, Layla. A couple of the images would seem to be from flashbacks that show Oscar Issac’s Marc Spector working with Calamawy’s character in Egypt. Of course, it’s possible that these are also stills showing them revisiting Egypt later in the series, but given the gear worn by both characters, I’m inclined it’s the former scenario and takes place before Spector is killed and revived by Khonshu.

Little is known about Calamawy’s Layla, though it’s possible, given the fact that Marvel Studios seems to be reinventing minor characters for this series (like Hawke’s Harrow), that her character is a reworked Leila O’Toole, an archeologist and Egyptologist who while in Egypt studying the ruins, became a member of the Cult of the Living Pharaoh. The photos certainly seem to support her having some interest in exploring whatever dig Spector is part of and while it’s unlikely she’ll be a direct adaptation of the character (she’s probably not a mutant in the show), we still don’t know anything at all about her role in the series.

Source: Reddit

Marvel Studios Moon Knight has captured the attention and imagination of fans, many of whom aren’t entirely familiar with the character’s struggles with dissociative identity disorder. The character, first introduced in 1975, has evolved over the years into one or Marvel Comics most complex heroes and, according to star Oscar Isaac, who will bring the character to life in the upcoming streaming series, it was that taking on the challenge of that complexity that attracted him to the role.

What I love most about this thing is that it’s an exploration of a mind that doesn’t know itself. A human being that doesn’t know his own brain. I found that really moving: what the mind is capable of as far as survival. But the workload was massive: the technical challenge of embodying these different characters, physically, the way I manifest my body… It required a lot of energy.

So far, through a trailer and the Super Bowl TV spot, we’ve seen Isacc inhabit the role of Steven Grant most of the time, with only a quick mention of the character’s original identity, Marc Spector. The series, however, promises to see “Grant” unravel the mystery of his true identity in what Isaac called “the first legitimate Marvel character-study since Iron Man“, and the many twists and turns that it’ll take along the way are sure to keep fans engaged from week to week. While the character has existed for more than 40 years in the comics, it seems as though Marvel Studios has created a rather original take on the character, meaning that even long-time comic readers may find themselves guessing, which seems to be exactly what Isaac hoped for because, as he said himself, he saw it as a chance to do “something really fucking nutty on a major stage” and there is no stage more major than the MCU at the moment.

Marvel Studios Moon Knight will debut on Disney Plus on March 30th.

Source: Empire