Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’: Everything you need to know before you watch this Disney+ series
- This six-episode limited series features Star Wars’ Oscar Isaac in the lead role, as well as Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy
- Here’s what you need to know before watching the show – no spoilers, we promise!
Oscar Isaac stars as Moon Knight in Marvel Studios’ latest series on Disney+. Photo: Marvel Studios.Fighting evil by moonlight, solving riddles about himself by daylight: He’s the one named Moon Knight.
The latest TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will hit Disney+ today, with episodes releasing weekly. The show is the sixth Marvel Studios series for the streaming service and was created by Jeremy Slater (Umbrella Academy).
But what will the show be about? Why does star Oscar Isaac’s accent keep changing in the trailer? And what do you need to watch before the show premieres? Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming series. (This preview is guaranteed spoiler-free.)
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Who is Moon Knight?
Moon Knight is one of the identities of Marc Spector, who has dissociative identity disorder and has been losing control of his body. Moon Knight and his many personas (and accents) are played by Isaac (Dune, Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Among his other personas is bumbling but sweet Steven Grant, a British museum gift-shop worker, who becomes aware of the other identities and struggles to regain some stability.
Spector is an American mercenary who was given superpowers after his life was saved by an Egyptian god. But those powers come at a price.
The character of Moon Knight has never appeared in a Marvel movie or TV series, but was introduced in Marvel Comics’ Werewolf by Night Nos. 32-33 in 1975 and garnered his first solo comic in 1980.
How many episodes are there?
Moon Knight will run for six episodes, and is billed as a limited series, so additional seasons are unlikely.
When and where does the series take place?
Moon Knight leaves the American settings of other MCU projects for London.
Passports and other items in the background of scenes in early episodes refer to events between 2020 and 2024, but there are no mentions of Thanos’ snap or the Blip, when everyone returned after the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Who else is on the show?
Spector, Moon Knight and Grant, all played by Isaac, are joined by Ethan Hawke as antagonist Arthur Harrow, Egyptian-Palestinian actor May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly, an archaeologist and adventurer from Spector’s past, and F. Murray Abraham providing the smooth, booming voice of the Egyptian god Khonshu, for whom Spector is an avatar.
Gaspard Ulliel’s last role
Gaspard Ulliel, who died at age 37 in January following a ski accident in France, appears in Moon Knight as Anton Mogart. The French actor was known for playing a young Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising and Yves Saint Laurent in 2014’s Saint Laurent.
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What do you need to watch first?
You can go into this new series without watching any previous MCU films or shows as, at least a few episodes in, there are no connections to previous storylines. But as Marvel Studios’ MCU Phase Four continues to take shape, it might be worth checking out Eternals, Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, if you haven’t already.
What else do you need to know?
Nothing essential, but it might be helpful – or at least enlightening – to brush up on the names and lore of ancient Egyptian deities, who are mentioned often throughout the episodes.
The Great Ennead is a group of nine gods in Egyptian mythology: Atum or Re-Atum (a solar deity), Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. There also is Horus, god of the sky, and Hathor, a goddess of love and music.
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What comes next?
Up next for Marvel Studios: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released in cinemas on May 6, and the new Disney+ series Ms. Marvel premieres June 8 just before Thor: Love and Thunder hits cinemas July 8.