El-Masry is a two-time BAFTA nominee who made his film debut in Egyptian cinema while Sofia Boutella has starred in a number of Hollywood blockbusters.
French-Algerian actress Sofia Boutella and Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry have been cast in SAS: Rogue Heroes by Steven Knight, the BBC has announced.
Based on Ben Macintyre’s book of the same name, the series will offer a dramatised account of the formation of the SAS during the deadly height of World War Two.
Connor Swindells (Sex Education) will front the series as David Stirling, an eccentric young officer desperate for action after being hospitalised during a training exercise accident in Cairo, 1941. Convinced that the army commando units are failing, he formulates a radical plan to recruit the nation’s toughest and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit.
Subverting all the traditional rules of modern warfare, the rebellious and heroic SAS crew are set a mission to create as much mayhem behind enemy lines as possible.
Leading the cast alongside Swindells are Jack O’Connell (Skins) as Paddy Mayne, Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) as Jock Lewes, Sofia Boutella (Modern Love) as Eve and Dominic West (The Wire) as Lieutenant Colonel Wrangel Clarke.
The six-part series will also feature Theo Barklem-Biggs (The First Team), Corin Silva (The Bay), Jacob Ifan (The Accident), Dónal Finn (Cursed), Jacob McCarthy (The Last Summer), Michael Schaeffer (Chernobyl), and Miles Jupp (The Great).
The dancer-turned-actress, Sofia Boutella, has a number of Hollywood blockbusters under her belt, including Fahrenheit 451, Atomic Blonde and The Mummy, where she starred alongside Tom Cruise.
Meanwhile, El-Masry is a two-time BAFTA nominee who made his film debut in Egyptian cinema. His breakout role came in early 2016 in the critically acclaimed mini-series The Night Manager alongside Tom Hiddleston.
