‘The Westies’ has dropped its first trailer, giving us a gritty new look at MGM+’s upcoming crime drama led by J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and Tom Brittney (Grantchester), as the series dives into the dangerous world of the Irish-American gang operating out of Hell’s Kitchen in early 1980s New York.
The eight-episode drama is set at a time when the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf promises a major financial windfall for the gang. Although outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ reputation for brutality and cunning gives them enough leverage to share in the spoils through a fragile détente. However, tensions between the younger generation and the old-school leadership threaten to blow the whole thing apart, just as the FBI deepens its investigation into the Italian mafia.
J.K. Simmons stars as Eamon Sweeney, the charismatic but ruthless leader of the Westies, a man whose old-school charm and fierce neighbourhood loyalty mask a dangerous mix of criminal ambition and calculated brutality. Tom Brittney plays James “Jimmy” Roarke, the fiercely loyal, streetwise leader of the younger Westies, whose allegiance to Eamon is tested as the gang becomes entangled with the Gambino Crime Family.
The cast also includes Titus Welliver (Bosch) as troubled NYPD officer Glenn Keenan, who proves to be a thorn in Eamon’s side, and Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark) as Birdie Polk, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Gambino Task Force, who is determined to take down both Irish and Italian organised crime. Allen Leech (Downton Abbey) and Sarah Bolger (Mayans M.C.) also star.
“The trailer showcases J.K. and Titus, and the other actors are performing in a situation where the Irish are tied to the Gambino Italian crime family, and at the same time, Eamon is also dealing with a little bit of internal rebellion amongst the younger Westies who are under his command,” shared Brancato, who co-created the series alongside Michael Panes. “It also teases the fact that within the Westies, there’s going to be drama and conflicts to come.”
That internal rebellion looks set to be a major part of the first season, as the younger Westies push into more dangerous territory with the cocaine trade, while the older leadership fears the consequences.
“The series as a whole depicts the Westies’ internal divisions, which really came as a result of the younger Westies decision to traffic in a drug that was very big in the 80s, which was cocaine. The older Westies are against it, for fear that it might land people in jail or cause them to rat on others. That’s a side plot that occurs throughout the season, as well as the Westies conflict with John Gotti [Hamish Allan-Headley] and the Gambino crime family, which at the time was led by a guy named Paul Castellano. Eventually, John Gotti took over the Gambino crime family, but that’s stuff for Season 2.”
So, probably best not to get too attached to absolutely everyone then…
“There is a body count on the show. There are people who drop, but hopefully, when that happens, it’ll feel to the viewer like it’s absolutely appropriate and dictated by the circumstances of the plot,” said Brancato.
Brancato is no stranger to period crime drama, having previously worked on Netflix’s ‘Narcos’ and ‘Narcos: Mexico’, MGM+’s ‘Godfather of Harlem’, and the Miami-set ‘Hotel Cocaine’. For ‘The Westies’, the challenge was recreating 1980s New York while filming in Toronto.
“I was around in New York City in the 80s, so I remember it vividly. The challenge for the show was, how do you replicate 1980 New York City when you’re shooting in Toronto? What we determined was that it was going to be very difficult to shoot on the streets of Toronto and have it look anything like 1980 New York, so we built a 240-foot New York street that is absolutely authentic to the era. We built that exterior at our stages, so we film a lot of the show out on a big outdoor set,” said Brancato.
He continued, “With the visual effects we used, we managed to create a real sense of time and place that I think viewers are really going to appreciate. They’re put into this time capsule of a period that was like no other; it was the go-go 80s in New York. It was Donald Trump. It was madness.”
However, despite the era, viewers should not expect to see Trump appearing in Season 1.
“No, we decided to leave him out. He gets enough press,” Brancato said with a laugh.
‘The Westies’ Season 1 premieres Sunday, 12th July 2026 on MGM+ in the US and UK. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date. Visit Never Miss.
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