Harkening back to his days on HBO‘s prison drama “Oz,” Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons is set to topline a new MGM+/Amazon MGM Studios crime series playing another ruthless criminal, but with “Westies,” he’ll be overseeing the infamous Irish-American criminal outfit that operates out of the notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City.
This promising gangster project that recently landed a full series order hails from creators Chris Brancato and Michael Panes, with the updated news of Simmons joining the project comes to us from a Variety report, as the actor is set for the role of Eamon Sweeney.
Brancato is also set to showrun “Westies,” after previously handling the Forest Whitaker series “Godfather of Harlem” for MGM+. Instead of seeing crime stories set in a comic book universe (“Daredevil: Born Again” is great and all) version of Manhattan, this new show is going to be inspired by real-life New York gangsters. The group aligned with the Italian-American Mafia was responsible for all sorts of criminal enterprises such as racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing.
Their syndicate connections to the Italian mob led to the FBI sweeping their criminal activities into their ever-expanding investigations into organized crime and murders.
An official synopsis of “Westies” courtesy of Amazon:
“The series is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention 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.“
It was previously announced by Amazon that “Westies” is primed to begin filming this July in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hopefully, the show is able to surround Simmons with an equally talented supporting cast of actors.
- Christopher Marc
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