Marvel Gave F. Murray Abraham 'A Lot Of Latitude' While Recording His Khonshu Dialogue For Moon Knight

He's a girlboss, he gaslights, but does not gatekeep — we are talking about "Moon Knight's" Khonshu, voiced by F. Murray Abraham, who brought the Egyptian moon god's diva attitude to life. Abraham talked in depth about the recording process for Khonshu's dialogues, and the amount of "latitude" and "input" he was allowed to inject into the role in order to bring forth the best possible outcome for the character, in an interview with Marvel.com.

Despite his flaws as an almost-immortal character, Khonshu is relatable in many ways, especially the back and forth quips with Marc and Steven (Oscar Isaac). Abraham explained how this was achieved:

"What I loved about the recording of it and the direction of it was that they [Marvel] allowed me to have a lot of latitude and they kept asking for input. We kept re-recording. We kept coming back and doing different things, over and over again, to get it so that everyone was satisfied. It was a treat to be able to record it, know what you had done, and then maybe a week later, come back after it had sat there for a while so you knew there was an improvement somewhere. It was very wise of them, by the way, to do that kind of thing, rather than try to do it all at one time. We did it over a period of time."

I do not know whether Khonshu's abrupt "Break his windpipe!" line was already a part of the script or a later addition, but either way, it helped cement the kind of character he is.

In the "Moon Knight" comics, Khonshu is an eccentric character in his own right, harboring dubious motivations in order to carry out his own plans concerning Marc as his avatar. The same is true for the Disney+ series, but this iteration of the moon god is quirkier, more dramatic, especially in the way he hates Steven and wants his avatars to straight-up kill everyone without question. Series head writer Jeremy Slater calls Khonshu "lovable" and "cranky," explaining how their intentions were to conjure a fun version of the classic character:

"Khonshu was always this lovable, cranky self, right from our very first drafts. He has an attitude. He's a little vain. He's snotty. The version of Khonshu that seemed like he had his own moral failings and weaknesses always felt more interesting to me than a god or deity who was just always right, and impervious to mistakes."

Abraham confirmed that the process for recording Khonshu's dialogues was a collaborative one, wherein they would be adjusting and improving ideas after multiple attempts, allowing room for developing the character in a way that felt right, especially for the actor.

This adds many layers to the character in question: while Khonshu is full of himself often, and makes questionable decisions, he also protects his avatar when the need arises while engaging in snappy retorts with them from time to time.

All episodes of "Moon Knight" are currently streaming on Disney+.