‘Bosch’ Star’s ’80s-Set Crime Thriller Unleashes Chaos in Brutal New Trailer

Titus Welliver is making his long-awaited return to crime drama after his time as Harry Bosch came to an end on Prime Video. Welliver’s newest series, The Westies, will premiere on MGM+ next month, and the first trailer has just been released for the show. The eight-episode crime drama is set in the early 1980s, as the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center threatens to bring a huge financial windfall to Hell’s Kitchen, where the Westies, an Irish-American organized crime gang, are trying to hold their ground.

The cast of The Westies includes J.K. Simmons as Eamon Sweeney, Welliver as Glenn Keenan, Jessica Frances Dukes as Birdie Polk, Tom Brittney as James “Jimmy” Roarke, Stanley Morgan as Mickey Flanagan, Sarah Bolger​​​​​​​ as Bridget Walsh, Allen Leech asBrendan Cahill, Hamish Allan-Headley as John Gotti, Vincent Walsh as Eddie Breen, and Hilary McCormack as Erin Malone.

What Can We Expect from ‘The Westies’?

Co-creator Chris Brancato, who created the series with Michael Panes, said the trailer shows “J.K. and Titus” alongside the rest of the cast in a world where the Irish gang is tied to the Gambinos while also facing problems from within. “It also teases the fact that within the Westies, there’s going to be drama and conflicts to come,” Brancato said.

That internal conflict will be driven partly by the younger Westies’ interest in cocaine trafficking, which the older generation fears could bring more heat, more prison time, and more informants. Brancato also teased the gang’s conflict with John Gotti and the Gambino crime family.

“The series as a whole depicts the Westies’ internal divisions, which really came as a result of the younger Westies decision to traffic in a drug that was very big in the 80s, which was cocaine. The older Westies are against it, for fear that it might land people in jail or cause them to rat on others. That’s a side plot that occurs throughout the season, as well as the Westies conflict with John Gotti [Hamish Allan-Headley] and the Gambino crime family, which at the time was led by a guy named Paul Castellano. Eventually, John Gotti took over the Gambino crime family, but that’s stuff for Season 2.”

Welliver also told Collider last year that his character was bent, and was the opposite of Harry Bosch. “[Keenan’s] a beat cop. He still walks the streets, but he’s corrupt. His moral compass has been completely compromised. He’s a very, very complex and deeply nuanced character.”

The Westies premieres July 12 on MGM+.