Mahershala Ali‘s big week continues.
On Saturday, the two-time Oscar-winner, who was just nominated for his second Emmy, shocked the pop culture world when he appeared at Marvel’s Comic-Con panel to reveal that he’s been cast as the new Blade. And now, the actor is joining season 2 of Ramy, the Hulu series that follows the life of a first generation Muslim-American (played by co-creator Ramy Youssef).
Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award in 2017, when he was honored for his performance in Moonlight (he won again earlier this year for Green Book). The star of the recent installment of True Detective is a fan of Ramy and will play a role in its second season, which “will delve further into his spiritual journey, finding a new Muslim community and embracing a deeper commitment to Islam.”
While the critically-acclaimed Ramy was shut out when Emmy nominations were announced last week, EW’s TV critic Darren Franich previously made a passionate plea on behalf of Youssef’s acting, writing, and directing.
“As a performer, he’s dazed and confused, whiplashing Ramy the character between urges spiritual and physical,” wrote Franich. “Ramy does things that are stupid — the word “sinful” comes to mind, given the show’s sincere treatment of religion — and yet it’s impossible not to empathize with him. So many characters on television in 2019 meet the madness of the world halfway by going a little crazy themselves. Youssef embodies a more whimsical strand of contemporary-crisis psychology, trapped between different conceptions of how he is supposed to feel.”
Ramy will return to Hulu in 2020.
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