Tom Brittney teams up with J.K. Simmons in the crime drama The Westies.

      MGM+ is continuing to assemble the cast for its forthcoming crime drama, The Westies, and has now secured its co-lead: Tom Brittney (Greyhound) will star alongside J.K. Simmons.

      Brittney will portray James “Jimmy” Roarke, “the fiercely loyal, street-smart leader of the younger Westies generation, a burgeoning Irish gangster under the guidance of Eamon Sweeney (Simmons), whose loyalties will be tested as the Westies form an alliance with the Gambino Crime Family.” He joins a lineup that features Simmons, Frances Dukes (Ozark), and Titus Welliver (Bosch).

      Set in the early 1980s, The Westies unfolds during the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in the Westies’ area of Hell’s Kitchen, which promises significant financial gains for the Irish-American organized crime group. Even though they are outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ infamous brutality and cleverness have provided them the necessary leverage to share the gains through a delicate truce. However, tensions between the bold younger generation and the traditional leadership threaten to ignite this volatile situation, pulling the Westies deeper into the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the Italian mafia.

      The Westies is developed by Chris Brancato (Narcos) and Michael Panes (Godfather of Harlem), with Brancato acting as showrunner and executive producer. Production is set to commence in July in Toronto.

      Ricky Church – Follow me on Bluesky for more updates on movies and discussions about fandoms.