MOVIE NEWS – The new Guy Ritchie series – starring Tom Hardy, among others – has received a major update, so we can finally know something about the story…

Sometimes ideas lie dormant for years, then quietly die out in Hollywood, but sometimes, just sometimes, everything goes smoothly. Although negotiations were only announced last month, it seems that the new Guy Ritchie TV series for Showtime and Paramount+ has already begun production in London. The series (working title The Associate) will star Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren. According to a new press release from Paramount:

“Hardy will play Harry Da Souza, a professional conciliator on behalf of the Harrigan family, while Brosnan will play Conrad Harrigan, the head of a very successful Irish crime family based out of London for whom Harry works. Mirren will play Maeve Harrigan, Conrad’s wife and the Harrigan family matriarch.”

Jez Butterworth, who created the excellent new C.I.A. thriller The Agency for Showtime and Paramount+, is also on board as an executive producer. Ronan Bennett also worked on that series and wrote for the new Day of the Jackal series and Michael Mann’s Public Enemies; he will also produce Ritchie’s new series.

“Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren are masters at their craft and we are honored to have them lead the cast for Guy Richie’s new global, original series,” said Chris McCarthy, co-CEO of Paramount Global and president and CEO of SHOWTIME/MTV Entertainment Studios. “Guy, Jez Butterworth, and Ronan Bennett’s creative prowess, coupled with these gifted actors, is the perfect recipe for what we believe will be the next brand defining series for Showtime on Paramount Plus.”

Guy Ritchie and Tom Hardy’s new series is not a Ray Donovan spin-off

The series’ logline reads: “An electrifying, new global crime series centered around two warring families based in London whose enterprises stretch all corners of the globe and the fiercely loyal “fixer” charged with protecting one of them at all costs.”

Guy Ritchie’s The Associate was once envisioned as a spin-off of Showtime’s hit series Ray Donovan, which ran for seven seasons and starred Liev Schreiber as a professional “fixer” who mediates between celebrities and wealthy clients, arranging all sorts of bribes, payoffs, threats, cleanups, and various other illegal activities.

According to Variety, things have now changed, and The Associate has instead been “reworked into a standalone series with no connections to that franchise.”

Ray Donovan was a classic Showtime series. So, it would have made sense for Ritchie’s new series to be a spin-off. Either way, Showtime has been producing some very high-quality material since its close partnership with Paramount+. Judging by the huge success of Ritchie’s latest series, The Gentlemen, this new Tom Hardy series will be another feather in their cap.

“The firepower on and off the screen in this new Guy Ritchie crime series will deliver exactly what audiences expect from Paramount + with Showtime: high-caliber acting, high-impact storylines, and high-level production from some of the best in the business,” said Jeff Grossman, executive vice president of programming at Paramount+. We’re looking forward to the series – we’ll see what comes of it…

Source: Paramount, Variety