Amir El-Masry, a British Egyptian actor, announced this week that he will join the cast of Netflix’s hit show “The Crown.”
The actor will play a younger version of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, who was Princess Diana’s partner Dodi’s father.
El-Masry took to Instagram to inform his followers of the exciting news. “I’m honoured and grateful to the ‘The Crown’ team for having me on board for season 5 of the series,” the rising star wrote.
Amir El Masry, who was born in Cairo and raised in London, made his international debut in 2016 with a small standout role as a hotel chef opposite Tom Hiddleston in Susanne Bier’s miniseries “The Night Manager.” El Masry most recently received critical acclaim for his performance as a Syrian asylum seeker living on a small Scottish island in Ben Sharrock’s drama “Limbo,” for which he received a BAFTA Scotland acting award. El Masry also appeared in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” as a military commander.
The casting of two actors as Mohamed al-Fayed suggests that, in addition to learning about Diana’s final months, viewers of “The Crown” will also learn a lot about the 93-year-old Egyptian businessman who, in 2008, famously claimed that Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, had ordered British security services to kill Princess Diana in order to prevent her from marrying a Muslim man and bearing his child.
Dodi, the son of Al-Fayed, had a love relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales, at the time of their deaths in a vehicle accident in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997. In the highly-anticipated fifth season of the series, which will premiere on Netflix in November 2022, Khalid Abdalla (“The Kite Runner”), who will portray him, will co-star with Elizabeth Debicki (“Tenet”) as Diana.
Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth in the fifth instalment of “The Crown.” Jonathan Pryce will play Prince Philip, Lesley Manville will play Princess Margaret, Dominic West will play Prince Charles, Olivia Williams will play Camilla Parker Bowles, and Jonny Lee Miller will play Prime Minister John Major.