The second season of Gangs of London — Sky/AMC’s blood-soaked and BAFTA-nominated British crime thriller created by The Raid’s Gareth Evans and produced by Pulse Films — is taking shape, with a trio of directors lined up and a late spring 2021 shoot planned.
Corin Hardy (The Nun), who helmed four episodes of the first season, will become lead director and executive producer on the second outing, taking over from Evans, who takes a step back from the action to executive produce alongside his creative partner Matt Flannery and Pulse CEO Thomas Benski.
Joining Hardy — who will direct four out of eight episodes of season two — are a pair of experienced filmmakers in the action world: Marcela Said, who directed episodes of Netflix hits Lupin and Narcos: Mexico, and Nima Nourizadeh, who helmed an episode of Little America and the 2015 action-comedy feature American Ultra. Said and Nourizadeh will direct two episodes each.
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With Evans no longer in the creative hot seat overseeing the carnage, Tom Butterworth has taken on the role of lead writer and executive producer. Additional executive producers include Hugh Warren and Helen Gregory for Pulse, Jane Featherstone for Sister and Gabriel Silver for Sky Studios.
“Helping Gareth and the team bring the first season of Gangs of London kicking, screaming and exploding to life was an invigorating high-dive into the world of cinematic television,” said Hardy.
“The audience response to Gangs of London was phenomenal and so it’s an honour to be handed the reigns for Season 2 to continue building our (under)world and get to tell the next chapter of this action-packed and emotional crime saga, which, if you’ve been watching so far, you’ll know, is about to kick off for real.”
The first bout of Gangs of London — starring Joe Cole, Sope Dirisu and Paapa Essiedu, and following the explosive aftermath of the murder of the U.K.’s top crime kingpin and the power-struggle between international gangs — became the biggest Sky Original drama launch on Sky Atlantic in five years. In the U.S., the series helped launched AMC+ and became one of its most watched series and landed on AMC’s linear channel in April. Elsewhere, it has launched across Europe, Latin America, Australia, Japan and, most recently, China. Last month, it landed BAFTA TV nominations for best drama and best production design.
“Working alongside such a talented team of creative collaborators made Gangs of London a truly remarkable experience for us,” said Evans, who added that it was always his intent to fuse “a genre filmmaking sensibility” with the conventions of long-form television.
“I could not have hoped for a better duo to share directing duties with than Xavier Gens and Corin Hardy. Now, as Gangs gears up for season two, myself and Matt Flannery are beyond excited to see what Corin and the team have in store. I have no doubt under his direction the journey for this incredible cast of characters will be a visceral, thrill-ride packed with emotion and bloodshed.”
Gangs of London season two is commissioned by Zai Bennett, Sky U.K.’s managing director of content, with Silver as the executive producer for Sky Studios. Gangs of London is produced by Pulse Films in association with Sister, for Sky Studios and AMC.
“From the very beginning Gareth, Matt and I had very intentional ambitions to create a ground-breaking show that would be a destination for true filmmakers,” said Benski.
“Following the success of series one, we are so excited to assemble such an amazingly eclectic and diverse group of directors to tell the next chapter of Gangs of London. With Corin Hardy returning as lead director, and Marcela Said and Nima Nourizadeh joining the team, we have created a dynamic force of modern directors to continue and build on the story of our beloved (and besieged) characters who have captivated fans across the world.”
