Titus Welliver’s New Crime Drama Was Originally A Spinoff Of A Hit 4-Part Series, Reveals Creator

Titus Welliver‘s new show was almost a spinoff.

Welliver has a full slate of upcoming TV projects. He will reprise his role as Harry Bosch, continuing his guest-star on the spinoff Ballard. He is also one of the main stars of The Westies, an upcoming MGM+ Original that will debut on July 19.

Unfolding in the early 1980s, The Westies focuses on an Irish-American organized crime gang and how their circumstances are primed to change. Despite drawing from true events, however, and leaning on the tensions of a generational divide, the drama was initially conceived as a smaller part of another MGM+ hit.

In an interview with Deadline, series creator Chris Brancato revealed that the central gang in The Westies were originally meant to oppose Forest Whittaker’s character in Godfather of Harlem. Wright, who created Godfather of Harlem, explained that MGM+ executive Michael Wright helped him realize that the gang had enough of a strong story to carry their own show.

In the quote below, Brancato goes into detail about what makes The Westies so compelling as a standalone series. In particular, Brancato touches on the brutal and self-destructive tendencies of the group:

On The Godfather of Harlem, we generally choose a group to oppose Forest Whitaker’s character, Bumpy Johnson. I was speaking with Michael Wright about Season 4 and said we should bring in the Westies. He stopped and said, ‘I would do a whole show about the Westies.’

We realized we had an opportunity to do a show about a little-known Irish gang in New York City, which flourished from the 1960s through to the 1980s. We started in 1980 because we wanted to capture that period of time in New York City history. If you call of the Italian groups organized crime, the Westies were disorganized crime. There really were only about 20 of them, and they cut a wide swathe through New York. They were violent and brutal.

They worked on behalf of the Italians, but they were also in conflict with the Italians, and we liked the idea of a group that is punching above its weight and had to survive a very fractious relationship not only with the Italians but internally, and there was a generational conflict that we have tried to depict. We felt they were ripe for the plucking.

Their chaos and brutality was one of their strengths and also their self-destructive behavior made them a fascinating Greek tragedy figures in our minds. We’re also talking about a New York City of the Fire of the Vanities, yuppies, cocaine flooding the market that also helps energize the generation.

Consisting of eight episodes, with Michael Panes as co-creator alongside Brancato, The Westies draws from the real New York gang of the same name. The 1980s-set saga takes focus from the construction of the Jacob Javits Convetion Center in the gang’s home turf of Hell’s Kitchen. They are primed for a financial windfall, and are prepared to fight with brutality despite being vastly outnumbered by the Five Families of the Italian mafia.

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The Westies cast includes Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons, Tom Brittney, Jessica Frances Jukes, and Welliver in main roles. It looks at how the titular group attempt to use their leverage in order to secure a fragile truce. It also looks at the generational divide between older and younger members of the group, which ultimately pulls the FBI deeper into investigating the Italian mafia.

Stanley Morgan, Sarah Bolger, Allen Leech, Hamish Allan-Headley, Vincent Walsh, Hilary McCormack, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Jeremy Walmsley, and Dylan Taylor also star in the MGM+ Original. It is coming just as Godfather of Harlem is ending after four seasons with a much-anticipated two-hour finale. Although it’s too early to say for sure, the hope is that The Westies is enough of a success to run for multiple seasons.

The Westies debuts July 12 on MGM+

Release Date

July 12, 2026

Network

MGM+

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  J.K. Simmons

  Eamon Sweeney

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  Tom Brittney

  James ‘Jimmy’ Roarke

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  Jessica Frances Dukes

  Birdie Polk