MobLand serves as Guy Ritchie‘s latest foray into television. With Tom Hardy in the lead role, this brutal London-set crime drama is making a big stomp in the TV industry. While many may be shocked to see Ritchie’s name on the credits, the last few years have proven that he can excel in television as well as cinema.
Across the pond in the US, Taylor Sheridan has quite possibly become the hardest working figure in television. Serving as creator on Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Special Ops: Lioness, and Landman, it seems he doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. However, it appears that Guy Ritchie doesn’t either. Is he working his way to dethroning Taylor Sheridan, the king of Paramount television?
What Is MobLand About?
Paramount Plus’ MobLand centres on Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy), a street-smart fixer for a powerful crime family called the Harrigans, led by Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and Maeve (Helen Mirren). Harry has worked his way up the ranks from a young thug to one of London’s most feared and respected criminals. However, he faces his biggest ever challenge when a rival family comes after the Harrigans. Placed in charge of rectifying the carnage, Harry finds out that things may have already gone too far as the young and disobedient Eddie Harrigan (Anson Boon) has murdered the son of Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell), Conrad’s long-time rival and enemy.
MobLand is dark and gritty, with moments of brutal violence, and occasional splices of offsetting humor – classic Guy Ritchie formula. Although the famous jump cuts and hyper zooms aren’t there, this very much feels like a Ritchie vehicle with its exploration of the underworld of the UK. Comparisons are being drawn to Taylor Sheridan’s work as both storytellers tend to keep their projects close to home and both typically explore criminals and underworld characters. Sheridan typically stays rooted to the American West, whereas Ritchie frequently depicts the London we don’t always get a chance to see in TV and film.
Is Guy Ritchie Swaying Away From Film and Towards Television?
Guy Ritchie kicked off his career in cinema, bursting onto the scene with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a fast-paced crime flick that garnered widespread acclaim. The dialogue was slick and sharp, the narrative was non-linear, and the violence was visceral yet layered with humor, causing many to hail Ritchie as Britain’s answer to Quentin Tarantino. After the massive success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the Hatfield-born filmmaker managed to secure a larger budget for his next movie Snatch, wrangling together A-list Hollywood actors like Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro, and Dennis Farina, and propelling the careers of actors like Jason Statham, Stephen Graham, and Lennie James.
The mid 2000s saw Ritchie hit a bump in the road with many of his movies flopping at the box office and failing to achieve the critical acclaim as his first two movies. However, he spun things around with his take on Sherlock Holmes in 2009. By this point, he was now considered a go-to director for hire, helming projects with much larger budgets. Yet, as more offers came his way, Ritchie decided to extrapolate his 2019 movie The Gentlemen into a TV series for Netflix. The show was a huge success, shooting to the top of Netflix charts with 215.7 million viewing hours in its first two weeks, making it the most-watched series across any platform in the week of March 14 to March 20, 2024. To that, it was now clear that Ritchie could shine in a TV setting as well as cinema, leading to his role as director for Paramount’s MobLand.
What Does Guy Ritchie’s Move to Paramount Plus Mean for Taylor Sheridan?
With many industry professionals calling MobLand Guy Ritchie’s “best work yet”, it’s safe to say that Paramount Plus are going to want him to stick around for a while. In terms of viewership, the global premiere pulled in 8.8 million viewers in its first seven days, serving as the biggest global series launch week ever on Paramount Plus. Off the back of such success, there’s already talks of a potential second season. But Taylor Sheridan isn’t going anywhere.
Tulsa King season 3 has officially started filming, Sheridan is also developing a new Yellowstone-verse series called The Madison, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Fox, and Mayor of Kingstown has been renewed for a fourth season. Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie is one busy man as well. He will return to the director’s chair for The Gentlemen season 2, he’s attached to direct Road House 2, and will also direct episodes of Young Sherlock for Prime Video. While Sheridan stays devoted to Paramount, Ritchie is all over the place. And if he’s to outpace Sheridan in the TV landscape, he has a long way and many more projects to go. Yet, it seems he is still appearing as his biggest contestant.
Read Next: 6 Movies to Watch After Guy Ritchie’s ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’
Follow Us
