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Tutankhamun
Played By: Avan Jogia (Adult Tutankhamun), Kaizer Akhtar (Young Tutankhamun)
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Tut becomes pharaoh as a child due to his father, Akhenaten, being poisoned.
- Foregone Conclusion: King Tut will die young, leaving no heirs to carry on his bloodline, and be forgotten by history until his tomb was rediscovered in 1922 by Howard Carter.
- Going Native: Tut regularly sneaks out of the palace in order to pose as a commoner to see his kingdom and people and poses as an outsider in order to justify why he has no money.
- The Good King: Tut tries desperately to be this but circumstances around him and the actions of others make it more difficult.
- Heir Club for Men: A big sticking point between him, Ankhe, and later involving Suhad is the need for Tut to have a male heir to carry on his bloodline. It was why he was married to his sister as a child in the first place.
- King Incognito: He sneaks out of the palace in disguise so he can find how his commoner subjects live.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Tut warns Ka to stay away from Ankhe and to forget about her but in a twist, it's because Ankhe is already married to Tut.
- Puppet King: Has been one for most of his life and the plot starts off with him trying to break free of his many manipulators and starting to rule on his own.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He's dead twice in the series. First is when the battle against the Mitanni goes awry and he is left for dead by Horemheb. The second, however, is very much real.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: At the beginning of the series, Tut is content to not really interfere too much with politics and instead leaves the governing to Ay and the military to General Horemheb, however, this attitude changes when he realises he isn't respected and his kingdom is in more peril than he was led to believe. After learning this, he involves himself in a military campaign against the Mitanni and starts making more political decisions himself.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Tut is one in the beginning, being coddled by Ay and leaving politics and military matters to others instead of taking charge himself.
- Siblings Share the Throne: Tut as king and his sister Ankhe as his queen was Akhenaten's attempt at preserving their dynasty's bloodline.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Tut's full name spoken by him in the 2nd episode is: Nesubiti Nebkheperure Tutankhamun. In real life his name was much longer being: Ka-nakht-tut-mesut Nefer-hepu-segereh-tawy Wetjes-khau-sehotep-netjeru Nebkheperure Tutankhamun as pharaohs had five names associated with them.
Ay
Played By: Ben Kingsley
- Ambition Is Evil: Ay ultimately wants to create his own dynasty and replace Tutankhamun's. He is perfectly willing to oppress the people of Egypt and ignore General Horemheb's warmongering to both keep other key players on his side and keep his own position as Grand Vizier secure until he has an opportunity.
- Altar Diplomacy: He desires to marry Ankhesenamun to further his political goals, but makes it clear to her he's not after her love and he would even allow her to keep Ka as her lover.
- Bald of Evil: Ay has his head shaven which was the norm in Ancient Egypt.
- Evil Chancellor: Although he doesn't do anything overtly against King Tut, Ay still gives off this vibe.
- Foregone Conclusion: Thanks to history we know that Ay becomes the pharaoh after Tut's own death, but his reign is a brief one (only two years). Ultimately his dream of a new dynasty dies with him as Horemheb then becomes the next pharaoh and erases both he and Tut as best he can.
- Manipulative Bastard: He is a skilled manipulator, often playing both sides while keeping his own loyalties ambiguous.
- Motive Rant: His speech to Nakht about "opportunity" spells out his ultimate ambitions.
- The Usurper: His ultimate goal is to usurp Egypt's throne and create his own dynasty.
Ankhesenamun "Ankhe"
Played By: Sibylla Deen
- Brother–Sister Incest: She was married to her brother, Tut, at a young age and expected to carry his heir and keep the bloodline "pure".
- Green-Eyed Monster: The thought of Suhad replacing her as queen makes Ankhe do some truly terrible things.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: She gets pregnant by Ka but when Tut murders him for betraying him, she then lies and says that the baby is actually Tut's. It doesn't matter in the end as she miscarries.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's a Head-Turning Beauty and has several scenes where she shows a lot of skin, including many bathing scenes.
- Siblings Share the Throne: Tut as king and his sister Ankhe as his queen was Akhenaten's attempt at preserving their dynasty's bloodline.
- Tragic Stillbirth: Ankhe has gone through two of these before the series and one during. The first two were Tut's children and the third was Ka's.
Suhad
Played By: Kylie Bunbury
- But Not Too Foreign: Suhad is only 1/4 Mitanni through her father, the other 3/4 presumably being from Amarru which is an Egyptian client kingdom. Not that this changes how Ankhe treats her.
- Child of Two Worlds: Suhad's grandmother was Mitanni, her father half-Mitanni with an Egyptian father, and she herself has a Mitanni name but lives in an Egyptian client kingdom. The people in Thebes treat her as if she is entirely Mitanni and see her as a possible spy or infiltrator.
- The Mistress: She becomes Tut's lover and due to Ankhe being unable to give him children, Suhad is in an actual position to become Tut's wife and queen if she manages to give him a child, something that makes her a target
- Murder the Hypotenuse
- Rescue Romance: She treats Tut's wounds and ends up saving his life while he was a King Incognito and the two fall in love soon after.
General Horemheb
Played By: Nonso Anozie
- A Father to His Men: Horemheb is beloved by the soldiers under his command and cares for them in return. When they break him out of prison, he surrenders to Tut rather than see them all needlessly killed on his behalf.
- Betrayal by Inaction: Horemheb leaves an injured Tut on the battlefield for dead instead of rescuing him and returning him to the camp all because Tut overrode his plans and called him out on wanting war with the Mitanni.
- Enemy Mine: Is willing to work with Tut to defeat the Mitanni once and for all because both know that it would be a near-impossible task without Horemheb to lead the army. This is also despite the fact that Horemheb had left Tut for dead and been condemned to die for it.
- The Extremist Was Right: General Horemheb is right about the Mitanni in that they are more cunning and devious than Tut gives them credit for. He is also right that they were trying to bait him into battle which unfortunately he was going to fall for if Tut hadn't intervened and changed the plan.
- Foregone Conclusion: We know from history that Horemheb will eventually become pharaoh after Ay's death and try to wipe both of his predecessors from the history books.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The men in the army adore him and are willing to commit treason for him. The people of Egypt seem to love him too as his execution has a very small crowd because the people see him as a hero.
Lagus
Played By: Iddo Goldberg
- Badass in Distress: When he is captured by the Mitanni after the disasterous battle against them. Thankfully, a not-dead Tut and Suhad manage to rescue him.
- But Not Too Foreign: Judging by both his paler complexion compared to the other characters and his Greek name, its possible Lagus is not a native Egyptian and either is or has Greek ancestry.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this moment when he realises he just bad-mouthed the pharaoh to the pharaoh's own face.
- Papa Wolf: There are a few points in the series where Lagus comes across as a non-related one on the account of the teenaged Tutankhamun; most notably when he is imprisoning Ankhesenamun after Suhad's murder, and his response to her pleas to protect her brother is that he's never going to let him out of his sight.
- Undying Loyalty: He becomes unshakably faithful to Tut after he recognizes Tut's desire to truly be a good ruler that wants the best for his people.
Ka
Played By: Peter Gadiot
- Childhood Friend: He's a close friend of Tut and Ankhe as they all grew up together in the palace.
- Love Makes You Evil: The reason Ka goes along with Horemheb's betrayal of Tut is that he loves Ankhe and with Tut out of the way, the two of them could finally be together.
- Puppet King: Ay claims that Ka would be a mere puppet ruler for General Horemheb as he helped him to ascend to the throne.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Upon learning that he had betrayed him, Tut stabs and kills Ka.
- The Usurper: Ka tries to take Tut's place as pharaoh and Ankhe's husband when Tut is believed to be dead. It doesn't work out for him.
- Walking Spoiler
Amun
Played By: Alexander Siddig
- Sinister Minister: As the High Priest in Thebes, Amun has considerable political sway and is very antagonistic to Tut.
- Villain with Good Publicity: His position makes him highly respected and admired by the other priests and the people of Egypt.
