Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in 'MobLand' season two. Luke Varley/Paramount+ Logo text MobLand is back on Paramount+ for its second season, the one Tom Hardy was always going to be a part of. Hardy’s Harry Da Souza serves as the faithful fixer for Conrad and Maeve Harrigan, who are played by Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren — and it sounds like the Irish crime family is really going to need their guy going forward.
Now both out of jail (“miraculously,” Mirren tells The Hollywood Reporter; “I was wondering how that was going to happen,” Brosnan adds), the Harrigans are back on their bullshit.
“This second season kicks off with a bang — many bangs, actually — at the dog track, and they are in full Harrigan mode,” Brosnan teased to THR. “And yet there is an undercurrent and a malevolence that is coming upon the stage.”
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Some of that malevolence comes through Kat Macallister’s (Janet McTeer) own fixer, Frankie (Johnny Flynn), who, in a fun twist, is a serious germaphobe. (You don’t tend to stay super clean in Frankie’s and Harry’s line of work.)
“We get somewhat blindsided by [Frankie],” Brosnan says.
Toby Jones also returns for season two as corrupt former cop Colin Tattersall; Mirren called the trio of supporting stars “some of the really, truly great British actors.” Brosnan agreed, saying they’re each “at the top of their game,” and that it is “beautiful to watch them work.”
“I can’t believe our good luck that we’ve got these people on board,” Mirren added.
Is it luck, or is it the skill of scribe Jez Butterworth that attracts such talent? Maybe a bit of both.
“We’re all incredibly appreciative of how brilliant our scripts are, written by one of the — if not the top — British playwright,” Brosnan said of his showrunner.
As talented as the entire call sheet may be, it is undoubtedly the top three — Hardy, Brosnan and Mirren — who make MobLand work. Brosnan, who boasts a hell of an IMDb (even outside of James Bond), says he’s “never played a character like Conrad.”
Well, there was that one time.
“There’s one of my movies called The Matador. He was pretty kind of crazy, whack job, hitman character — but nothing like this. This is pure lunacy,” Brosnan says of playing Conrad. “When I was offered this role, Guy Ritchie just said, ‘Go Irish, go mad.’ (Laughs.) That was what happened.”
On the subject of Bond, Brosnan tells THR he, too, is awaiting an announcement of the new martini-preparation snob. “I’m just a member of the audience now — I will not find out before any of us. It’s exciting. It’s wonderful. It’s exhilarating. We all want to know,” he said, in response to Page Six’s recent report that Jack Barton has emerged as a frontrunner.
“Whoever the man is, I wish him well. Stand tall, stand strong, own it and be great,” he adds.
Mirren, the Oscar winner (The Queen) here, says she places Maeve in her “top four” career-spanning roles.
“I’ve played many powerful women. I’ve been lucky enough to play some very, very powerful women and great, great roles, theater and film and television. Maeve is up there. Maeve is up there in the top four. Definitely top four,” she said. “Just in the variety that you can present, there is no limit. There’s no limit, and it’s enormous fun. It’s great, great fun. I should be so lucky to get a role like Maeve.”
Tom Hardy as Harry Da Souza in MobLand season two. Luke Varley/Paramount+ Now that we know Hardy has not been fired from MobLand — THR was the only Hollywood trade outlet to report that one correctly — the big three are looking forward to season three.
“We’re sitting here now more or less waiting in the wings to see what is revealed in the third season,” Brosnan said. “Neither of us know — I don’t.”
“He’s hoping we’re still alive,” Mirren added, laughing.
MobLand season two premieres Friday on Paramount+.
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