‘The Westies’ Trailer: MGM+ Irish Mobster Drama Teases 1980s Hell’s Kitchen Turf War

J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver star in Chris Brancato’s upcoming 1980s New York mob series, premiering July 12.

MGM+ has released the first official trailer for its upcoming crime drama seriesThe Westies, offering a gritty look at the notoriously violent Irish-American gang that once ruled New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen.

Co-created and executive produced by Chris Brancato and Michael Panes, the series is set against the backdrop of the early 1980s organized crime scene. The plot centers on the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center, a massive infrastructure project on the gang’s home turf that promises an unprecedented financial windfall.

Despite being outnumbered fifty-to-one by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies utilize legendary brutality and strategic cunning to force a fragile truce and split the construction spoils.

The trailer teases that the true danger to the criminal empire comes from within. An escalating generational war between brash younger members and old-school leadership threatens to destroy the fragile alliance and draw the gang into a widening FBI investigation targeted at the Italian mob. “Who’s making more money for you right now—me or John Gotti?” series star J.K. Simmons pointedly asks an Italian mob boss in the trailer.

The ensemble cast is led by Oscar-winning Whiplash actor Simmons and Titus Welliver. They’re joined by Tom Brittney, Stanley Morgan, Sarah Bolger, Jessica Frances Dukes, Hamish Allan-Headly, Vincent Walsh, Allen Leech, and Hilary McCormack. The eight-episode MGM+ series premieres July 12. Watch the first official trailer below.