South African actor and model Bohang Moeko is set to star in a new US drama series opposite Hollywood heavyweight Julianna Margulies, who is best known for her work on the award-winning drama, The Good Wife.
Moeko will play Doctor Musoke in The Hot Zone, a new National Geographic limited series, which is also based on the book of the same name by Richard Preston. It also stars Noah Emmerich as Lt. Col. Jerry Jaax and Liam Cunningham as Wade Carter.
The show was shot in South Africa and the USA and revolves around the origin of the Ebola virus in Central Africa and how it spread.
Speaking for the first time on his first-ever international project, Moeko said he auditioned for the role in November last year.
“I got a call from my agent and I auditioned for the role of a teacher. I got a callback but it was not for what I auditioned for. They wanted me to play Dr Musoke. I knew nothing about that character so I read the book for research and I was excited because I found out that Dr Musoke played a very important role in the story,” he said.
Dr Musoke is the first doctor on the scene when a patient is brought in with extreme symptoms that lead to no clear diagnosis. Following his tests, the patient is diagnosed with Ebola and treated, however, Musoke contracts the virus.
The star announced the news on his Instagram account.
View this post on Instagram
#TheHotZone Limited series coming on the 27th May #DrMusoke
A post shared by Bohang Moeko(@bohangmoeko) on May 13, 2019 at 11:51am PDT
Moeko said he shot all of his scenes in Durban. “Once I got the job shooting started a week later. Most of the production staff was made up of American’s and although it was an amazing experience, I felt a lot of pressure to perform at my absolute best because it is my first international job,” he said.
Moeko first made his debut on our screens as Victor Ndou on Zabalaza in 2015. He went on to star in Ring of Lies, The Queen, Scandal! and more recently, Housekeepers.
The star said that working on the set of The Hot Zone inspired him to work harder. “It was so surreal walking on set and being around directors like Michael Uppendahl and Nick Murphy who knew who I was. Things are done very differently on international productions and this has just inspired me to work me to continue to work on my craft”.
Many celebrated the news with the star.
Entertainment commentator Phil Mphela tweeted:
CASTING NEWS: @Bohang Moeko stars in US series 🥳
Bohang plays a Doctor in the new @NatGeo limited series opposite Hollywood stars like Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife).
The show was shot in 🇿🇦 and tells the story of the origin of Ebola in Central Africa.
TX: May 27th pic.twitter.com/BmChTTACCL
— Phil Mphela (@PhilMphela) May 14, 2019
Watch the trailer here: