The Peaky Blinders of New York: Why “gritty” crime drama The Westies is a TV “megahit” in the making

Listen up, Peaky Blinders fans! If gangland dramas are your thing, there’s another coming your way pulled straight from the history of New York’s dark criminal underworld. MGM+’s The Westies zooms in on the Irish-American mob of the same name who ruled Hell’s Kitchen in the 1980s. And with a top-notch cast including Titus Welliver, J. K. Simmons, Downton Abbey's Allen Leech and Grantchester's Tom Brittney, plus a fantastic production team behind it including Narcos’ Chris Brancato, the gritty crime drama is a megahit in the making!

The upcoming series will explore a bloodthirsty period in New York history, when the Irish-American organised crime gang known as "The Westies" were involved in all sorts of criminal activities from drug trafficking to extortion. When a lucrative project on the Westies’ home turf promises financial rewards, they face rival crews who want a piece of the pie - as well as internal divisions that threaten to tear the whole gang apart. Let's just say we're expecting some rather nasty power struggles!

While we await the arrival of The Westies on our screens, here’s everything you need to know about the series, including the plot, cast and how to watch it.

What is The Westies about?

As we mentioned, the eight-part series is set in 1980s New York and follows the notorious Irish gang of the same name who (unofficially) run Hell’s Kitchen. The Westies were a mob of ruthless criminals known for drug trafficking, extortion, murder-for-hire, robbery and more, and the series follows a fictionalised version of them as they face power struggles with the Five Families of the Italian Mafia.

The official synopsis reads: “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.”

Head of MGM+ Michael Wright says: “We are thrilled to bring our viewers another provocative, exciting crime drama from the incomparable vision of Chris Brancato. Chris is a gifted showrunner who builds his stories around compelling characters operating in dangerous worlds about to explode. The Westies is him at his best.”

Creator Chris Brancato added: “The Westies has been a passion project of mine, and I can’t wait to bring it to life. This is a story about ambition, loyalty, and power, set against the backdrop of 1980s New York.”

Who were the real-life Westies?

The Westies are some of crime’s most notorious characters. The Irish-American mobsters were active between 1977 and 1988 in the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood of Manhattan. Carrying out drug trafficking, contract killing and fraud, among other crimes, they were a tight-knit and violent group headed up by James “Jimmy” Coonan, a charismatic yet ruthless boss. Although they weren’t quite big enough to compete with the Italian Mafia, they enterprisingly struck a partnership with them - and their small size compared to the vastness of their criminal dealings made them legendary characters within the NYC crime world.

When the FBI and NYPD intensified their crackdown on gang crime in the mid-1980s, gang member Mickey Featherstone flipped to become an informant on the crew. He testified against them, dismantling the group and led to the imprisonment of Jimmy Coonan for 75 years. At the time, the New York District Attorney called them “the most savage organisation in the long history of New York City gangs”.

Who’s in the cast of The Westies?

The cast of The Westies includes:

• J. K. Simmons as Eamon Sweeney
• Titus Welliver as Glenn Keenan
• Tom Brittney as James “Jimmy” Roarke
• Jessica Frances Dukes as Birdie Polk
• Stanley Morgan as Mickey Flanagan
• Sarah Bolger as Bridget Walsh
• Allen Leech as Brendan Cahill
• Hamish Allan-Headly as John Gotti
• Vincent Walsh as Eddie Breen
• Hilary McCormack as Erin Malone

Will The Westies be as good as Peaky Blinders?

We’ve been longing for a series as good as Peaky Blinders for far too long, and we think The Westies could be it! Narcos and Hotel Cocaine creator Chris Brancato is serving as executive producer on the series, and he certainly knows how to put together gold-standard crime dramas. Like Peaky Blinders, which is the fictionalised account of a real Birmingham street gang that operated between the 1880s and 1920s, The Westies is also based on the unflinching accounts of the New York gang’s dealings. As well as Peaky Blinders, the series is being compared to Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. Here's hoping it's as good!

How can I watch The Westies?

MGM+ hasn’t yet shared a release date for The Westies, but we do know that it will be released in early 2026, and will premiere exclusively in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and the US. As soon as we have a confirmed date, we'll share it here.