Throughout the first season of Legion, big villain Amahl Farouk (a.k.a. the Shadow King) was played by Aubrey Plaza in a conceit that was never properly explained (was she ever a real person? If not, how did she get killed in that one episode, and if so, why did nobody else know who she was?), but that’s going to change in season two. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wonder Woman‘s Said Taghmaoui has been cast as Farouk in season two of Legion, with FX explaining that the character is a “villain with a thousand faces.” Weirdly, it also goes on to describe his “real form,” saying he’s a fancy dresser with “a thin Clark Gable-style mustache” and “a pair of ornate sunglasses.”
That doesn’t sound much like Plaza’s version of the character or the yellow-eyed demon he typically appeared as when he wasn’t Aubrey Plaza, but if this is his “real form,” then the others must’ve just been alternate faces he used to fuck with Dan Stevens’ David Haller. Also, for those who enjoyed Plaza’s version of Farouk last season, it does sound like she’s sticking around in some capacity—even if it’s just as a figment of David’s telepathic mind.
Beyond his previously unmentioned love for weird sunglasses and fancy clothes, Amahl Farouk is an evil psychic who “can seductively hold court on any topic and in any language,” but all he really cares about is amassing as power as he possibly can. As teased in the first season, he initially tried to do that by targeting David’s unnamed—though English and wheelchair-bound—father before moving on to David himself, but by the end of the season he had latched onto Jemaine Clement’s Oliver Bird instead and escaped.
This will all make a bit more sense when Legion returns at some point next year.