Paramount+ may have found its answer to The Sopranos — only this time, the mobsters are trading New Jersey for North London, and the family drama is just as lethal as the gunplay. MobLand — the streamer’s violent and stylish crime drama executive produced by Guy Ritchie, and one of its few original hits to not originate from the mind of Taylor Sheridan — has proven such a hit, in fact, that it’s officially coming back for Season 2.
The series, which debuted on March 30 and had the most-watched premiere in Paramount+ history with 2.2 million viewers for its first episode, quickly snowballed into something of a global phenomenon. MobLand has racked up more than 26 million viewers since its launch, and it’s spent more than a month in Nielsen’s Top 10 SVOD Originals for five consecutive weeks. Currently, it’s the #2 most-watched original series on the platform and has already reached the top spot in the U.K.
So, what’s the appeal? On paper, the drama sounds like familiar gangster drama territory: Two rival families, a missing son, and a fixer trying to prevent all-out war. But under the surface, it’s a whole different beast.
Pierce Brosnan stars as Conrad Harrigan, the icy patriarch of a crime family plotting a move into the fentanyl trade. Tom Hardy plays his loyal fixer Harry Da Souza — a role he delivers with quiet menace and surprising (for Hardy) restraint. Hardy’s Harry doesn’t strut or shout, preferring instead to glower and simmer. “To talk low and carry a big stick,” as Hardy told me when I interviewed the main cast, describing his desire to play the role with “contained and measured” force.
Helen Mirren, meanwhile, steals one scene after another as Conrad’s ruthless wife Maeve, a backroom schemer with eyes on the long game. The rest of the cast — including Paddy Considine, Lara Pulver, Joanne Froggatt, and Jasmine Jobson — rounds out a tangled web of family drama, criminal intrigue, and emotional baggage.
Created by Top Boy’s Ronan Bennett and written by Jez Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari, Spectre), the 10-episode MobLand marks Guy Ritchie’s first foray into television for Paramount+. His fingerprints are all over the show, from the stylish editing to the searing monologues and sudden bursts of violence. But as I noted in a prior post, this show isn’t The Gentlemen redux.
“What feels really original is the heart in it,” Froggatt told me. “The themes of family. And also, the women — the women are equal to the men in this show. That feels original and adds a different dynamic.”
Indeed, MobLand surprises with its emotional stakes. Whether it’s Harry trying to hold his crumbling marriage together or the unspoken pain that lurks behind Conrad’s steely gaze, the show brings humanity to characters who, in lesser hands, would be caricatures. Paramount’s Co-CEO Chris McCarthy called the show a “resounding triumph,” crediting the creative synergy between Ritchie, Butterworth, Bennett, and executive producer David C. Glasser. “We are elated to greenlight a second season of this global phenomenon,” McCarthy said in a statement.
