Grantchester's Tom Brittney is set to appear in a brand new period crime drama for MGM+.
Set in the early 1980s, The Westies will focus on the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center and the opportunities it promised for the Irish-American organised crime gang.
The Westies were a New York City-based gang responsible for racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing, partnered with the Italian-American Mafia.
They operated out of the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of Manhattan, becoming infamous for the level of brutality involved in their crimes.
Make Me Famous star Brittney will appear as James 'Jimmy' Rourke, an Irish gangster leading the younger generation of Westies.
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Per Deadline, a synopsis continues: "Internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia."
Brittney took to Instagram to celebrate the news, sharing a clipping from Deadline's story with the caption: "See you in Hell’s Kitchen… Sláinte! ☘️🗽"
He will co-lead the production alongside J.K. Simmons, who will star as Eamon Sweeney, Jimmy's mentor.
Titus Welliver and Jessica Frances Dukes are also set to star in the production, which will begin filming in July in Toronto.
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Brittney is known for appearing in ITV series Grantchester as Will Davenport, Sidney Chambers' replacement as the Anglican vicar of Grantchester.
He most recently starred alongside Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz in Netflix spy comedy Back in Action.
The film followed two former CIA operatives, Emily and Matt, who are forced back into the mysterious world of espionage after their secret identities are exposed. Brittney starred as an assassin sent to kill Emily and Matt in the film.
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