The Westies might well be bringing us a new look at New York’s criminal underground, but it might also find a way to bring back some familiar faces, too. The show comes from Chris Brancato and Michael Panes, who also happen to oversee Godfather of Harlem, and the pair have admitted they are open to bringing the two worlds together.
But this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, because The Westies was actually conceived as a storyline for Godfather of Harlem before Brancato and Panes decided the material deserved its own series. Speaking to ScreenRant, Brancato pointed to two characters who could plausibly come from the same world as Godfather of Harlem, even though the series never makes that connection explicit, just to strengthen that DNA link.
“There are two characters, Leon and Charlie, who appear in The Westies,” Brancato said, referring to two of the men that the Westies work with on their drug deals. “One could imagine that they come from that world, though we didn’t specify that. But, yes, we’ll continue to look for crossover opportunities wherever we can.”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
‘The Westies’ and ‘Godfather of Harlem’ Are Separated by 20 Years
Panes acknowledged that any direct crossover would have to work around the timeline, because Godfather of Harlem is set in the early 1960s, while The Westies takes place in the early 1980s. “They’d be much younger in the Godfather world,” Panes said. “Godfather’s the early ’60s, and this is the early ’80s. So Leon and Charlie could be babies in Harlem.”
“First of all, we were hopeful for some way to cap off what has been a marvelous four-season run,” Brancato said. “Shows don’t usually go into five and six seasons very much anymore, so we’re grateful to MGM and Disney for coming up with the cash to be able to make a finale that we hope will entertain the fans, close off the Bumpy Johnson story, and make the entire 42-episode series have a beginning, middle, and a proper end.”
