Ethan Hawke Recalls Funny Way He Was Recruited for Upcoming Marvel Disney+ Series ‘Moon Knight’

Ethan Hawke has Oscar Isaac to thank for getting him roped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hawke has an unknown role in the upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight, in which Isaac plays Marc Spector, a former U.S. Marine who becomes Moon Knight. While on Late Night with Seth Meyers Thursday night, Hawke said Isaac recruited him at a Brooklyn coffee shop.

“I heard about it from Oscar Isaac, who lives like three blocks down the street from me in Brooklyn,” Hawke told Meyers. “I was at a coffee shop, he came up to me. He’s like, ‘Hey, I really liked The Good Lord Bird.’ I was like ‘Oh, cool, I really like your work. You’re amazing.’ He’s like, ‘Hey, want to be in the Moon Knight with me?’ I was like… yeah! So, it happened the right way.”

Hawke, an Oscar-nominee for his performances in Training Day and Boyhood, still had to jump through some hoops to secure the role. The actor has never done anything like this before, where he “had to sign like 10,000 NDAs about what I would and would not say.” He also called the show’s sets in Budapest “mind-boggling,” adding that they take him “to some alternate universe… We’re conjuring ancient gods and we’re fighting for good and evil. It’s very exciting.”

It’s not clear who Hawke is playing exactly, but he compared his character to David Koresh, a cult leader who had a role in the 1993 Waco siege and led the Branch Davidians set.

Moon Knight will debut on Disney+ next year and will run just six episodes. The series was created by Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy, The Exorcist), while the character of Moon Knight was created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin in 1975. May Calamawy, who starred in Hulu’s Ramy, also has an unknown role in the show. Gaspard Ulliel (Hannibal Rising) was also reportedly cast as Mogart, according to ComicBook.com. Mohammed Diab, Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead directed episodes.

In another interview with The Ringer‘s The Watch podcast, Hawke said the fact that Moon Knight is a lesser-known Marvel character allows for more creative freedom on the show. “A lot of it is Oscar, to me, to be honest with you,” Hawke said before heaping praise on his co-star when asked why he joined the show. “I find him to be a very exciting player in my field. I like what he’s doing with his life,” Hawke said. “He reminds me of the actors, when I first arrived at New York, that I looked up to. Oscar’s younger than me, and I like the way he carries himself, and I like the way he thinks. And in general, good things happen when you’re in the room with people that you like the way they think, right?”