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Move over Peaky Blinders, New York’s got its own gang drama coming to the small screen.
MGM+’s The Westies premieres on July 12, spotlighting the Irish-American organized crime syndicate that plagued Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen in the 1980s. The Westies were notorious for their cruelty and shrewd business dealings.
What’s more, J.K. Simmons (newspaper chief J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man, Fletcher in Whiplash) stars in the show as Eamon Sweeney, the charismatic but ruthless leader of The Westies. Titus Welliver plays Glenn Keenan, a troubled NYPD officer who grew up with the Westies crew, and Tom Brittney is James “Jimmy” Roarke, the fiercely loyal, streetwise leader of the younger generation of Westies.
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Not only that, the show will recreate the gritty New York City of the 1980s.
“It's Bright Lights, Big City,” said showrunner, writer and executive producer Chris Brancato. “It is a time when greed is good and Michael and I wanted to try to represent a New York City that would take us back to when we were coming up and those memories.”
The production designer Rocco Matteo built a New York City street that mimics 47th Street in 1980 New York City, for example. “I'm hoping that the look we've created for 1980 New York will be very specific to The Westies,” Brancato said.
Now, here’s all we know about the series!
What is The Westies about?
“The Westies is a gritty and kinetic crime drama centering on New York City’s infamously violent Irish gang of the same name. The series is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Javits Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall. Despite being outnumbered fifty-to-one by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.”
Watch the trailer here
Who is in The Westies?
J.K. Simmons (Eamon Sweeney), Titus Welliver (Glenn Keenan), Tom Brittney (Jimmy Roarke), Stanley Morgan (MickeyFlanagan), Sarah Bolger (Bridget Walsh), Jessica Frances Dukes (Birdie Polk), Hamish Allan-Headley (John Gotti), Allen Leech(Brendan Cahill), Hilary McCormack (Erin Malone)
When does The Westies premiere?
July 12, starting with two episodes and followed by weekly release. There will be eight one-hour-long episodes.
Who is behind The Westies?
Creators/showrunners/executive producers/writers: Chris Brancato and Michael Panes, who are behind Godfather of Harlem and Hotel Cocaine.
Director and executive producer: Alan Taylor; and directors: Chris Grismer, John Fawcett and Adam Kane.
Executive Producers: John Weber, Frank Siracusa, Alan Taylor, Raymond Quinlan, Michael Panes, Chris Brancato
Consulting Producers: Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean, Grady Spivey
How to watch The Westies?
The series debuts at 9 p.m. EST on the network and streams on MGM+ the same day. You can also access MGM+ via a Prime Video add-on.