Moon Knight Director Teases Jake Lockley's Future and Breaks Down Post-Credits Scene

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Episode 6 of Moon Knight.]

Moon Knight's finale ended in perhaps the most dramatic way. After spending six episodes of the Marvel series with Oscar Isaac's Steven Grant and Marc Spector — two personalities who share the same body, viewers are introduced to a third identity, Jake Lockley, in the post-credits scene. Leading up to this moment, Steven and Marc had joined hands with Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) to defeat cult leader Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and the Egyptian goddess Ammit. Though Harrow had the upper hand in the fight, he is defeated following a blackout from Steven and Marc. Neither knew what had happened and why they were suddenly surrounded by dead bodies. The post-credits scene offers an explanation as to who was responsible for the violence that took place here — and in earlier episodes of the series.

Executive producer Mohamed Diab, who directed Episodes 1, 3, 5, and 6 of Moon Knight, spoke to TV Guide about the implications of this post-credits scene. He discussed Khonshu's relationship with Marc, Steven, and Jake, and the goddess Taweret's relationship with her new avatar Layla. We also asked Diab about criticism the series has received for its delivery of Mandarin lines ("Alright Arthur Harrow needs to fire his Mandarin teacher," Simu Liu had tweeted) and for Jewish representation—including backlash about Marc's backstory reveal in Episode 5.

I wanted to start with the post-credits scene, where Jake Lockley is introduced. If Marc created Steven as a channel of escape, what did he create Jake Lockley for?
Mohamed Diab: I honestly don't know anything about that right now. We never expanded that. What is the reason for Jake to exist? One day if we're allowed to come back and expand that world, that's something that I love developing — the backstories and the trauma of the backstories. But definitely, there's a dramatic reason for Jake for sure and it has to be developed before I say anything about that.

To confirm, that story is not developed yet?
Diab: We wanted to make sure that we tell the story of Marc and Steven very well and tease Jake who's, you can understand who he is, but you don't understand why he became the person he is. So that's something that needs a lot of exploration. And by the way, we tried to put Jake in the story at some point, but we discovered you know what, no, it's better to have the focus on those two guys first.

Throughout the series fans have been trying to decipher where Jake may have appeared. What can you say about this?
Diab: I would tell them in the blackouts, Jake could be in every one of them. But when they ask about Episode 5 in the asylum, he wasn't there. We never saw Jake on the screen except for the last, final scene [in Episode 6].

In the post-credits scene we also see Khonshu with Jake. Is that the first time Khonsu has worked with him?
Diab: No, it's definitely not the first time he worked with Jake. It means [Khonshu's] been controlling him for a while but they don't know about it.

And by the end of Episode 6, do Marc and Steven think that Khonshu has freed them?
Diab: Yes and I myself can't wait to see the expansion of that world when the two of them — Marc's trying to stand on his feet and start a new life — discover that there's another character that is still keeping them in the dark and Khonshu still has a hold on them.

As for Arthur Harrow, would you be able to share if he's dead from the last scene? 
Diab: He could be, and maybe not. I don't know. Again, it's left open. If you ask me, he has a god inside of him, anything could happen.

Layla said that she would be a temporary avatar, but by the end of Episode 6, we don't see her give up her powers. What does that mean for her character in a potential Season 2?
Diab: First of all, you don't know how important this is for Egyptians and people in the Middle East and even South Asians to see someone that looks like them becoming a superhero. It's our Black Panther. It's such a historical moment. And Egyptians feel for the first time that they're seen. Egyptians are behind the camera and in front of the camera and their music, and the composer is Egyptian, everything made Egyptians feel like okay, for the first time we're seen. So that moment was such a historical moment and I am absolutely sure that we're going to see more of her. I for myself think she deserves a spin-off one day. I want to see her partner with Taweret and try to get rid of her because she's so annoying. I love Taweret, she's so cute. But for someone as serious as Layla, to have Tawaret nagging her and stuff, I think that's gonna annoy her and drive her crazy. They're going to have a love-hate relationship. 

How would you describe the relationship between Layla, Steven, and Marc by the end of Episode 6?
Diab: It's complicated, because right now, which one of them is she going to love and what's going to happen? How is she going to have a relationship [with] one of them knowing that the other is there, and the other has a crush on her. And now that there's Jake, my God. By the way, we thought about that for months. Should she know something about Jake because actually, at the end of Episode 6 on that last blackout, she talks to Marc like, she's shocked. "Did you do that?" Because he was so violent and killed everyone. And that might change everything between the relationships. So there are routes for big, great drama. I'm not sure which direction we're going to take it if I'm allowed to be a part of it one day.

There has been a lot of feedback from viewers about the Mandarin that Arthur Harrow speaks, and about Jewish representation in the series. Do you have plans to address this in a potential Season 2?
Diab: Absolutely. Anything that people thought we can do better? Definitely. We're gonna try to do better, it's a given. For example, when Simu Liu commented and talked about the Mandarin, I actually replied and told him thank you for pointing that out. I actually liked that. I like that everyone is trying to guard safe their culture and teaching us all that we should do better. And as an Arab, every time I hear Arabic on screen in Hollywood, 90% of it is gibberish. I don't like that. So I really felt what he was saying. And I said in my tweet to him, we had an expert but we still should have done better and we will next time.

That's something that I like about Marvel. Even Arab characters in Marvel, before, they were like terrorists or not significant. But now we have better understanding and it's getting better. So the best people are the people who are trying to correct.

The six episodes of Moon Knight are available to stream.