The Diplomat's David Gyasi Starred In A Controversial Series Based On Greek Mythology

The 2026 big screen adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey" was met with backlash over its diverse cast, but this wasn't the first time a Greek mythology project was criticized for employing non-Greek actors. In 2018, Netflix and the BBC teamed up for "Troy: Fall of a City," a TV show about the Trojan War. However, just like Christopher Nolan's movie, some fans wrote off the series before it aired because the producers cast Black actors as Zeus and Achilles, with the latter played by "The Diplomat" star David Gyasi.

Some people accused the producers of "blackwashing" Greek mythology and Greek culture, placing Gyasi and Hakeem Kae-Kazim is (the Nigerian-British actor who played Zeus) at the center of the controversy. Defenders of the series pointed out that Ancient Greece was diverse so it wasn't really erasure to include other cultures in the story. What's more, removing the Black actors wouldn't have fixed the problem, as the rest of the cast was made up of British, American, Australian, South African, and Irish actors.

While "Troy: Fall of a City" proceeded, ignoring the backlash, it did not go down in history as one of the best TV shows about Greek mythology. The show ended up receiving mixed reviews, though Gyasi was singled out for praise in by some critics, with IndieWire's Steve Greene calling him "effortless as legendary warrior Achilles." Greene added: "His performance is the clearest example of how a more primal ancient form of warfare actually becomes more powerful when its main players are more reserved in how they express their anger and the fuel for the fight."

After the backlash, series creator David Farr, Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, and producer Derek Wax all defended the casting. David Gyasi also spoke out. "When I read about The Iliad and read about Achilles, the things that came off the page to me were to do with being a demigod, the physical turmoil, the internal conflict, the pursuit of love and honour and legacy, and all of these things," he told Digital Spy. "At no point did I think, 'How am I going to play his blonde hair because that's really important to this story?'"

The star of "The Diplomat" also brought up comments where people said that his casting was the equivalent to having white actors play Black figures like Barack Obama or Nelson Mandela. Gyasi pointed out that, unlike Achilles, Mandela and Obama's legacies are tied to their race. "One of the saddest things about these great, great men — phenomenal men — is that their wisdom and their intelligence and their brilliance was a lifetime spent trying to get equality," he said. "So if you're a storyteller and you wish to subvert this idea of Obama being Black, then you need to find a way to ask yourself why you're taking the essence of the story out."

Over three million viewers tuned in for the premiere of this new take on the Greek myth when it first aired on the BBC, but the audience dwindled to half that number over the following weeks. "Troy: Fall of a City" may be largely forgotten now, but it's definitely worth checking out if you love a good historical epic. It's a well-acted show, and it looks fantastic — the series won a BAFTA television craft award in the visual effects category.