MGM+ continues to put together the cast for its upcoming crime drama The Westies and has now found its co-lead with Tom Brittney (Greyhound) set to star opposite J.K. Simmons.
Brittney will play James “Jimmy” Roarke, “the fiercely loyal, streetwise leader of the younger generation of Westies, a rising Irish gangster mentored by Eamon Sweeney (Simmons), whose allegiances will be challenged as the Westies forge a partnership with the Gambino Crime Family.” He joins a cast that includes Simmons, Frances Dukes (Ozark) and Titus Welliver (Bosch).
The Westies 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 for the Irish-American organized crime gang. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 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.
The Westies is created by Chris Brancato (Narcos) and Michael Panes (Godfather of Harlem). Brancato will serve as showrunner and executive produce. Production is scheduled to begin in July in Toronto.
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