The show Tyrant takes place in Abuddin, a fictional Middle Eastern country whose residents suffer under the harsh dictatorship of the ruling Al-Fayeed family.
When the leader’s health begins to decline, his youngest son, Bassam (call him Barry), returns from his self-imposed exile in the United States, complete with his American wife and two teenage children.
To his father and brother, Jamal, who eventually assumes the presidency, Barry is hopelessly American; he has lost sight of what is good for his homeland. To Barry, his brother is a harsh and volatile leader, heavily influenced by his wife, Laila, who believes in an autocratic rule. But it doesn’t really matter, because Barry isn’t sticking around long, despite the wishes of his parents and Jamal.
Except that he does. Barry can’t stay out of his family’s political dynasty, and though he vows to follow through with reforms and peace negotiations, he goes too far and tries a coup to overthrow his brother. Caught and sentenced to death, Barry’s days as the great hope for Abuddin are numbered.
Or they might have been, if FX had wanted an abrupt end to the series, which returns for a third season Wednesday. Barry wasn’t executed after all; Jamal couldn’t live with that. So he faked the execution and set his brother free … to roam the desert and fend for himself.
Barry is taken in by a Bedouin family, creates a new identity and begins working with the insurgency opposed to Jamal’s rule. When the brothers face a common enemy in an encroaching caliphate, together they defeat the threat and emerge victorious.
And just as Jamal is on the verge of relinquishing his position, thanks to some machinations by his always-scheming wife, he goes back on his word and announces to the rallying crowd none of whom want him in power anyway — that he’s staying right where he is.
And then the shots ring out.
At the end of season two, Jamal had been shot in the back by his daughter-in-law, who has every motive in the world, thanks to his assaulting her on her wedding night.
And thus the scene is set for season three: With Jamal out of the picture, will Barry finally take control and give the people some relief from the tyranny? Or will Jamal’s wife, Laila, wrestle him for it? And is Jamal really dead, or does it just look that way?
These questions hang in the balance when Tyrant premieres, adding Chris Noth to the cast as a U.S. general who arrives with unsolicited support for Barry, at 8 p.m. Wednesday on FX.
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