Robert Langdon Faces off Against a Formidable Foe in 'The Lost Symbol'

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, and for the TV show adaptation of the same name.

Dan Brown's 2009 best-selling novel, The Lost Symbol, is the latest fictional work to be adapted for TV. More than a decade after it was first published, and several years after Sony Pictures canceled a film plan (which would have featured Tom Hanks in the leading role), the third installment in the Robert Langdon series is seeing the light of day on Peacock.

The events in the novel take place after The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, but the TV series is actually a prequel instead. It follows a young Robert (Ashley Zukerman) during his early days as a symbology professor at Harvard University, as he investigates the disappearance of his mentor, Peter Solomon (Eddie Izzard).

Peter's captor is, unsurprisingly, the villain of the series. Read on to find out more about the sinister character.

The book's antagonist is Mal'akh, a tattoo-covered 33rd degree Freemason, who may remind readers of Silas from The Da Vinci Code. Mal'akh believes that, by practicing black magic, the angel Moloch was able to enter his body.

The character spent time in prison before the events in the book, and he significantly altered his appearance during that time.

Throughout the Dan Brown novel, Mal'akh utilizes several pseudonyms to hide his identity. This allows him to stay one step ahead of Robert.

In The Lost Symbol Novel, it initially appears as though Mal'akh kidnapped Peter Solomon in order to get Robert's attention. He needs the Harvard professor to help him find the Masons Ancient Mysteries, which he believes will be somewhere in Washington, D.C.

However, a twist at the end of the novel reveals that Mal'akh's real name is Zachary Solomon — and that Peter is his father.

The 32-year-old actor is unrecognizable in his role for The Lost Symbol, though he's no stranger to playing a villain on screen. Beau previously played a criminal named Knox in the 2018 film Death Wish, which is the sixth movie in the Death Wish series.

However, Beau did tell Anthem Magazine that Mal'akh was the "most daunting villain" he ever played, but that he had "fun" portraying him.

"He's a monster of a man, literally," Beau told the outlet. "I've never had more fun playing a baddie."

Outside of his antagonist roles, Beau's first major acting part was as Breen in the 2011 movie, Super 8. He played Denny in No One Lives, a horror film, the following year.

Beau has also appeared in movies like The Signal (2014), You're Not You (2014), What Lola Wants (2015), Run All Night (2015), Southpaw (2015), The Nice Guys (2016), Measure of a Man (2018), Crypto (2019), and Ida Red (2021).

The actor's most recent film, The Guilty, debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2021.

New episodes of The Lost Symbol come out on Thursdays on Peacock.