Tunisian footballer-turned-Hollywood actor, Dhafer L'Abidine, has been cast for a new American television series ... and we have a bad feeling about it.
Why? Well, the series concerns the September 11 attacks, so we suspect it to feed into the stereotypical portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in Western media.
L'Abidine is set to appear in the upcoming television adaptation of The Looming Tower, an award-winning book that revolves around the events that led to the 9/11 attacks.
The news was announced by Hollywood Reporter on Monday and confirmed by L'Abidine on social media soon after.
The upcoming The Looming Tower series is based on American author Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning book. It discusses the historical background behind the formation of terrorist group Al-Qaeda and the events that occurred prior to the 9/11 attacks.
The book takes a controversial look at how the rivalry between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) might have paved the way for the 9/11 tragedy and the war in Iraq.
Apart from Tunisia's L'Abidine, The Looming Tower will feature Tahar Rahim, a French actor of Algerian descent, along with American actors Jeff Daniels and Alec Baldwin.
Who is Dhafer L'Abidine?
L'Abidine is no stranger to Hollywood.
The former professional soccer player has appeared in major international productions, such as The Da Vinci Code, Sex and the City, and Black Forest.
The 45-year-old made his acting debut in the United Kingdom, where he graduated from the prestigious University of Birmingham with a diploma in Professional Acting Studies.
After his success in the West, L'Abidine brought his skills back home and featured in several Arab productions.
He was most recently seen in two hit Ramadan series, Halawat Al Dounia and Caramel.
We can do without more misrepresentation of the Middle East
It remains unclear what role L'Abidine will take on in the drama series, but by the looks of it, he probably will not be playing the hero.
Judging by his Arab and Muslim heritage, and the themes of the series, we have a feeling he might be featured as a radical Islamic terrorist.
The problem here is not in the theme of the series, but in the overt stereotyping and lack of balanced representation plaguing Hollywood and the British film industry.
With the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in the West, we can definitely do without more productions that inadvertently cause people to lump Muslims into pools of murderous thugs.
"Nearly zero Arab and Muslim identities are portrayed three-dimensionally on screen," British-Iraqi actor, writer, and filmmaker, Amrou Al-Kadhi, wrote in the British daily, The Independent, earlier this year.
Here's hoping that the Tunisian star, who has long been making the Arab world proud, does not end up in a role that perpetuates gruesome stereotypes and gross inaccuracies often found in Western media.