Still from Ramy / Courtesy of Hulu

Hulu recently announced the upcoming release of a new Hulu Original TV series called Ramy.

The show stars a character named Ramy Hassan, a first generation Egyptian-American who is on a spiritual journey in his politically-divided New Jersey neighborhood. The show will explore the challenges of being caught between a Muslim community that thinks life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.

The show is created and produced by Ramy Youssef who, as you might guess, stars in the show as well! Ramy is an actor, comedian and director from New Jersey. You might recognize him from his reoccurring roll in season three of Mr. Robot, his late-night stand-up debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert or Nick at Nite’s See Dad Run. He has also directed a number of music videos such as Jet Lag Gemini’s “Fit to Be Tied”. The show is produced by Jerrod Carmichael, Ravi Nandon and A24 Television. In addition to Ramy, it is co-created and co-written by Ryan Welch and Ari Katcher.

Still from Ramy / Courtesy of Hulu

According to a review of the show in Variety by Caroline Framke, the show “turns a coming-of-age lens on the kind of man who rarely gets that kind of spotlight”. Never before have we seen a story like Ramy’s told on American television. The story of a first generation immigrant, an Arab-American, a Muslim-American. Characters like this are usually supporting characters or comedic relief that plays on stereotypes. As we’ve written about before, the importance of this kind of media representation is incredibly important for both the people it represents as well as the people who can learn from it. Framke ends her review by saying that “to its credit, Ramy isn’t especially trying to appeal to everyone. Instead, it digs into the specificity of its star’s perspective and experience to deliver something much more unique — and that, more than anything, is what makes it so worthwhile.”

We’re so excited to see this show and how Ramy (both as creator and character) handles this story. It’s refreshing to see content providers like Hulu use their platforms to distribute media that showcase all sorts of diversity as well as new, interesting, and unique stories.

Ramy premieres on Hulu on April 19th, just in time for Arab-American Heritage Month! Check out the trailer below: