Mohamed Diab Responds to Criticism Over 'Moon Knight's' Depiction Of Mandarin

Last month, actor Simu Liu criticized a scene from Disney's "Moon Knight" series on his social media account.

The scene in question involved Ethan Hawke's character, Arthur Harrow, having a quick conversation with one of his disciples in the Mandarin language. Liu pointed out that the duo mangled the language, saying, "Alright, Arthur Harrow needs to fire his Mandarin teacher."

At the time of Liu's post, several of the show's fans also added their voice to the actor's criticism, berating the showrunners for not conducting enough preparation to enable the proper usage of the Asian dialect in the scene.

"Moon Knight" director Mohamed Diab has now responded to the criticism, claiming that contrary to popular belief, the essential work for the scene was actually carried out and that if given a second chance, things would be different.

In a recent chat with Screen Rant, Diab discussed Liu's critique of the misuse of Mandarin language in a scene from the show's "Summon the Suit" episode. The director made light of the situation and praised the actor for pointing out the unintended goof. He then revealed that they had consulted a professional for such parts of the series.

"In episode 2, Harrow was speaking Mandarin, and Simu Liu commented that this is not accurate," the Egyptian screenwriter said. "I wasn't upset. I actually told him, "Thank you for pointing that out." We had an expert, and we tried to do our best. But you know what? Next time, we're going to do better."

The filmmaker went on to claim that for any future features, he would provide a more quality depiction, adding that he passionately believes in proper representation in his work.

He continued: "There's still room if one day we're expanding this, and I think we're all ears. You won't meet anyone who believes in representation and that everyone's voice should be heard more than mine. Definitely, when we have round 2 - if I'm allowed, and if there is round 2 - we're gonna hear every comment and try to make everyone even more pleased."

Despite criticism of the series' usage of Mandarin, the show was greatly received by critics and fans since its premiere. Oscar Issac's portrayal of the different personas of Moon Knight deeply wowed fans and also served as an educative insight into the realities of those with dissociative identity disorder.

Fans were also appreciative of Marvel's deeper exploration of Egyptian mythology, an angle which was last seen in 2016's "X- men Apocalypse" - three years before Disney purchased the rights to the mutant franchise.

"Moon Knight" also acknowledged Marc Spector's Jewish heritage, which was a huge gain for film diversity and would go a long way for more inclusion in forthcoming movies.

Apart from starring Isaac as Marc Spector / Moon Knight and Steven Grant / Mr. Knight, the series also starred May Calamawy, Karim El Hakim, F. Murray Abraham, Ethan Hawke, Ann Akinjirin, David Ganly, Khalid Abdalla, Gaspard Ulliel, Antonia Salib, Fernanda Andrade, Rey Lucas, Sofia Danu, and Saba Mubarak.

The showrunners had wanted to film the series in Egypt at the start of production but were unable to do so due to the country's political situation and censorship concerns. From April to October 2021, filming then took place mostly in Budapest, as well as Jordan, Slovenia, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Following the completion of filming, postproduction began immediately, with the series premiering on March 30th, 2022. It lasted six episodes and ended on May 4th. The show is part of the MCU's Phase Four and shares a connection with the franchise's upcoming films.

Now that the limited series has come to a close, the lingering question is what's next for Isaac's future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The showrunners' decision to debut the show in the middle of Phase 4 suggests that the new superhero will appear in additional MCU films, so fans should stay tuned.

Even though viewers have previously assumed that there would be more features of the masked hero, the show's climax feels like the end of Marc and Steven's MCU narrative. His two personas now live in peace in London and have surrendered the abilities imbued in them by the Egyptian god.

However, the post-credits scene in Moon Knight episode six is a huge teaser for the possible future of "Moon Knight." Khonshu's real servant is revealed to be Moon Knight's third alter ego, Jake Lockley, and his determination to be a brutal murderer makes him a wild horse in the arc. Isaac's personas may be unaware of Jake's exploits, but based on the end credits, the odds are high that they would make their return in the future.