FX’s ‘Tyrant’ Returns With More Middle Eastern Intrigue

Season 3 of the FX thriller Tyrant opens as former Cali pediatrician Bassam “Barry” Al-Fayeed (Adam Rayner) assumes the presidency of a country he left decades before. “What happens when our perception of being a good person comes under fire?” asks executive producer Howard Gordon, “and can Barry avoid the temptations of power?”

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Those who disagree with Barry’s agenda include U.S. general William Cogswell (The Good Wife’s Chris Noth), arriving in the rebel-plagued fictional country of Abuddin to eventually meet with ambitious former first lady Leila (Moran Attias); nonviolent Islamist Sheik Al-Qadi (Khaled Abol Naga) and his fiery wife, Nafisa (Annet Mahendru); and jihadist Ihab Rashid (Alexander Karim), who seeks revenge against Barry for the death of his wife. “The students want a progressive society and the jihadis want to provoke a civil war,” Gordon says. “We’re telling the story of so many countries in the Middle East.”

Tyrant, Season Premiere, Wednesday, July 6, 10/9c, FX