A New York-based, Peaky Blinders type show is being developed by the creator of Narcos

Everybody wants their Peaky Blinders moment, huh? In the wake of that show’s star, Cillian Murphy, winning Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards, the BBC/Netflix series seems to have some momentum. Creator Steven Knight said a Peaky movie will begin filming with Murphy later this year. And now another showrunner, Chris Brancato, is developing his own Peaky-esque series, except this time the Irish gangsters will be New York-based rather than Birmingham.

Of course, it’s unfair to say Brancato is just jumping on the Peaky bandwagon, when actually, this concept fits perfectly into his oeuvre. Brancato co-created Narcos and Narcos: Mexico as well as Godfather Of Harlem and the upcoming Hotel Cocaine. These are all crime dramas that feature gangsters or drug lords in ultra-specific locales and particular periods of time. It actually makes perfect sense that he’d get around to Irish gangsters eventually.

Brancato teased the new MGM+ series, which will reportedly be called The Westies, at Series Mania in France. Per The Hollywood Reporter, he didn’t give much away but that it would follow “fearsome Irish gangs” in New York in the late 19th century. According to the Irish Star, Brancato did say, “I look for themes such as hedonism that was part of the American and worldwide culture at that time,” he told the audience during his appearance. “Did it amount to anything? To examine this, you want to make a period piece to comment about and I think this offers commentary about today as well.”

Interestingly, if there is one person’s toes Brancato might actually be stepping on, it’s Martin Scorsese’s. The auteur previously covered this territory in Gangs Of New York—which of course doesn’t preclude anyone else from exploring the period. But Scorsese has been involved with multiple attempts to bring Gangs Of New York to the small screen over the years, most recently in 2022, when he signed on to direct a version written by screenwriter Brett Leonard.

He was previously attached to a different version in 2013, at which time he said, “This time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two-hour film. A television series allows us the time and creative freedom to bring this colorful world, and all the implications it had and still does on our society, to life.” Chris Brancato would agree—and it looks like he might beat Marty to the punch!