Martin Scorsese is set to take audiences back to the mean streets of 19th century America with a new TV series based on The Gangs of New York.
The series will be based on the 1927 book by Herbert Asbury, with Scorsese serving as executive producer and taking on director duties for the first two episodes.
The filmmaker directed a feature-length adaptation in 2022, starring Leonardo DiCpario, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis. It picked up ten Oscar nominations and made $193 million at the box office.
Deadline reports that the series will be ‘a new take on the story with new characters that were not featured in the movie.’
Asbury’s non-fiction ‘The Gangs of New York’ details the rise and fall of 19th century gangs in the city. It explored the tensions between different religious factions and a local rogues’ gallery of thieves, prostitutes, pimps, pickpockets and murderers.
Scorsese was previously attached to direct a different TV series adaptation of the book back in 2013. That one would have focused on organised gangs in different American cities, including Chicago and New Orleans.
Playwright Brett Leonard, who adapted Apple TV+’s new miniseries Shantaram, has written the script for the upcoming adaptation.