{"id":311593,"date":"2026-02-22T15:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/311593\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:08:17","slug":"narcos-creators-new-series-about-irish-gang-gets-exciting-update-from-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/311593\/","title":{"rendered":"Narcos creator’s new series about Irish gang gets exciting update from star"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Narcos<\/p>\n

‘I don’t think I’ve ever played such a badass before, and a fierce Irish woman.’<\/p>\n

Godfather of Harlem and Narcos co-creator Chris Brancato is working on a new series about the infamous Irish-American organised crime gang The Westies, which has just got an exciting update from one of its Irish stars.<\/p>\n

Named after the New York City-based gang, the eight-episode show will be set in the early 1980s “when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies\u2019 home turf in Hell\u2019s Kitchen promises a financial windfall”.<\/p>\n

The plot synopsis adds: “Despite being outnumbered fifty-to-one by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies\u2019 legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile d\u00e9tente.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But 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\u2019s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.”<\/p>\n

The Westies cast includes Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Titus Welliver (Bosch) and Ireland’s own Sarah Bolger (In America, Mayans M.C.).<\/p>\n

JOE caught up with Bolger on the IFTA red carpet<\/a> last night (Friday, 20 February) and asked her about what people can expect from the upcoming crime drama.<\/p>\n

“I think that show may be one of the coolest things I’ve ever been part of. <\/p>\n

“Chris Brancato, who’s our showrunner and creator, and Michael Panes, our other writer, they did such an impeccable job with creating this 1980s New York.<\/p>\n

“Bridget is the character I play. I don’t think I’ve ever played such a badass before, and a fierce Irish woman. I cannot tell you how proud I am of not only the work but the entirety of the project.<\/p>\n

“That’ll come out hopefully this year. I don’t have a date, but hopefully this year.”<\/p>\n

You can watch a clip of the actresses’ comments below:<\/p>\n

Bolger was also full of praise for Brancato, adding: “He’s incredible. Chris Brancato has a brilliant mind.<\/p>\n

“He’s so creative, he’s so thoughtful, and my God, he’s so kind because he always picks up the phone when I call him with stupid questions,” she said, laughing.<\/p>\n

Being made for US streaming service MGM+, it is not yet known where Irish viewers will be able to watch The Westies when it comes out.<\/p>\n

JOE also asked Bolger about her acclaimed sci-fi movie Descendant, which came out in the States last August but has not had an Ireland or UK release yet.<\/p>\n

Holding an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score, the film follows Sean (Ross Marquand, Avengers: Infinity War), a troubled father-to-be who begins to experience strange visions after a mysterious light appears in the sky.<\/p>\n

“He races to face his demons before his growing obsession consumes him,” the plot synopsis adds, with Bolger playing Sean’s wife Andrea in the movie.<\/p>\n

Descendant is produced by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, the duo behind such cult indie mind-bending sci-fi films as The Endless, Spring<\/a>, and Synchronic.<\/p>\n

We asked Bolger when the sci-fi will be getting an Irish and UK release, to which she responded:<\/p>\n

“I would say it has to be this year, if not spring. That movie is incredible. <\/p>\n

“Playing a role like that, with like the Rustic Films [Benson and Moohead’s production company] people, who did some of the most incredible sci-fi mind-bending projects you can possibly imagine… <\/p>\n

“I think those filmmakers are very cool and they made just such a sleek sci-fi drama.”<\/p>\n

Descendant and The Westies are expected to be released in Ireland sometime in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘I don’t think I’ve ever played such a badass before, and a fierce Irish woman.’ Godfather of Harlem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-311593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}