It was only in February 2025 that we learned the actual title (and ultimate streaming location) of MobLand, which had been previously referred to as The Associate when it was announced in October 2024 that Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan were in final talks for creator Ronan Bennett’s series, with Guy Ritchie as an EP and director. Suddenly, the show was about to premiere on March 30 on Paramount+. How fast was this train moving? It was only announced on March 17 that Janet McTeer had joined the cast. Well, it turns out that production on MobLand actually wrapped on March 26, just four days before its premiere. Apparently, scripts were being written as the show was being filmed. When MovieWeb spoke with the cast, they were just catching their breaths. For some actors, this helped their work.
“There’s an effervescence that comes from working on material that’s coming immediately off the press, in a way that almost a 24 hour play is, where you get in the room with brilliant people, and they’re turning over pages very quickly,” said Tom Hardy of the full-steam-ahead nature of MobLand’s production. Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, the main “fixer” for a criminal family. He added:
“You don’t have a long time to sit with the immediacy of a new scene. But also, over that time you’re building characters in a world where you understand the plot and where things are going to, or in some aspects, where things might go to. This is an interesting way of shooting and a process. But the scripts had gone through multiple changes, from since I came on board last July, I think, and that was when Ronan had four of the 10 episodes. Then it went through a significant amount of change since then, and we only finished filming last week.”
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Paddy Considine Wanted More Time
On the other hand, not every actor is comfortable with that process, such as Paddy Considine, who plays Kevin, one of the adult children of crime lords played by Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren. Kevin’s son may be responsible for something which could lead to an all out gang war. Considine’s performance is fueled by a tense anxiety, and the actor is excellent as usual, but that tension was partly a result of the rushed production. Considine explained:
“When you’re trying to develop a character or find your way in a story, everybody’s used to getting rewrites and things like that, and things changing at the last minute. But it was difficult for me to begin with, because the story was changing so much, and I was just trying to fight for the little things to make sure that Kevin had a narrative going through it, you know what I mean? So that was kind of a worry, and took a bit of extra work, really. But as far as changes, you were just waiting for the episodes to come in so that you could figure out where you were and where you were going with it.”
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“I never fully had his arc, really,” confessed Considine, though his screen presence always elevates a scene. “It was just these vague conversations and then you’re waiting for scripts to arrive. But in some ways it fed it, in some ways it fed the energy on set and kept us on our toes. We were constantly thinking, and in touch with [writer] Jez Butterworth, back and forth with notes and things like that. But on the other hand, it was quite important to know what your arc was. Like when I did the series House of the Dragon, I knew I was going to be out by episode eight, but I had a really great arc in it. So, you know, I was comfortable with it. I already planned where he was going to get to, pretty much from the beginning.”
“I Knew What I Was Signing Up For, But I Also Didn’t”
Paddy Considine’s character Kevin is married to Bella, who is played by Lara Pulver in MobLand. Pulver noted how the mad dash of filming the series lended itself to more collaboration; scripts were being finalized for future episodes, so the actors ended up participating in that and altering the trajectory of their characters in some ways. “It has been collaborative,” said Pulver, “none of us knew beyond kind of the first couple of episodes, so we really couldn’t form any arc. It was very present. And like you said, the pacing, the way we shot, it was super fast.” Pulver continued:
“I mean, from the second we were cast, there was very little time between being offered the job and us really starting. We hit the ground running, and I think it has been formative. I think as we’ve gotten to know the characters more over the first couple of episodes, that then informed Jez’s writing and character trajectories.”
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“I think also the sheer kind of size and volume of this show is pretty massive, isn’t it? It’s pretty huge as a show,” added Pulver. “So I think there was lots to fill in, like lots of color to fill in, which I think is a credit to the ensemble, both in front of the camera and behind. I think we’ve all really come with everything that we bring to projects, and it’s been fun to all play.” For another cast member, Mandeep Dhillon (who plays Seraphina, the adult daughter to Pierce Brosnan’s character from a woman other than his wife), the production process was almost like being an audience member at the same time as an actor. Dhillon explained:
“I really have enjoyed getting every episode and reading it and being like, ‘Wait, what is she up to now? What is she up to now?’ And I’ve been pleasantly surprised. If I’m honest, I knew what I was sort of signing up for, but I also didn’t. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised as the series goes on. I really get to go on quite a journey with Seraphina. So it’s been great to sink my teeth into it.”
Sink your own teeth into MobLand every Sunday through June 1, 2025. Stream it on Paramount+ through the link below:
2.5
/5
Release Date
March 30, 2025
Network
Paramount+
You can view the original article HERE.
