The Crown has announced a new addition to its cast, and while you may have never heard of him, Pakistani’s around the world know him all too well.
Prominent Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed has been cast as Dr Hasnat Khan in season 5 of the Emmy Award-winning series. Not only does this mark a huge win for representation, but as a Pakistani myself who has grown up watching Humayun on-screen, I can’t wait to see how this one plays out.
Dr Khan is a British-Pakistani heart surgeon who practised at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital. In 2004, he provided a statement to the Metropolitan Police, which was submitted four years later in 2008 to an inquest into the Princess’s death.
He admitted to being in a relationship with her from 1995 to 1997 and that she ended things with him after she met Dodi Al-Fayed during a family holiday.
Dr Khan ended up relocating to Pakistan, revealing in the statement that the only way to dodge the media from hounding the both of them was for him to leave the UK. He said that at the time, he had considered a life with Diana but the press made it untenable.
Humayun Saeed may be new to Hollywood but he made his debut in the Pakistani film industry back in 1999 in the Urdu film Inteha. Since then he has built himself to be a distinguished actor and has gone on to produce multiple films.
Humayun will star alongside Elizabeth Debicki, who will be playing Diana in the Netflix show. Both of them will be joined by Imelda Staunton who will play Queen Elizabeth II, Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Al-Fayed and Dominic West who will be taking over the role of Prince Charles.
While we don’t have a premiere date just yet, season 1-4 of The Crown is available to stream on Netflix.
