Titus Welliver returns to crime drama in The Westies, premiering July 12 on MGM+. The first trailer plunges into early-1980s Hell’s Kitchen as a massive Jacob Javits Convention Center project threatens the Irish-American gang’s hold on power—and internal fract
Titus Welliver knows how to make crime stories feel lived-in. In the first trailer for his newest series, The Westies, that instinct is pushed straight into the early 1980s—where the Westies’ grip on Hell’s Kitchen is tested from the outside and shaken apart from within.
The eight-episode crime drama. premiering July 12 on MGM+. is set as the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center threatens to deliver a huge financial windfall to the neighborhood. For the Westies—an Irish-American organized crime gang—the project isn’t just background noise. It’s a new pressure point, one that lands right on the gang’s attempt to “hold their ground.”.
Welliver, fresh off his time as Harry Bosch on Prime Video, stars as Glenn Keenan. He’s joined by J.K. Simmons as Eamon Sweeney. Jessica Frances Dukes as Birdie Polk. Tom Brittney as James “Jimmy” Roarke. Stanley Morgan as Mickey Flanagan. Sarah Bolger as Bridget Walsh. Allen Leech as Brendan Cahill. Hamish Allan-Headley as John Gotti. Vincent Walsh as Eddie Breen. and Hilary McCormack as Erin Malone.
The trailer also makes the stakes clear: the Irish gang is tied to the Gambinos. but it still has to deal with problems inside its own ranks. Co-creator Chris Brancato—who created the series with Michael Panes—said the trailer shows “J.K. and Titus” alongside the rest of the cast in a world where the Westies are linked to the Gambinos while facing escalating internal trouble.
In Brancato’s framing, the show doesn’t just build tension with rival families—it turns the heat inward. He points to drama driven partly by the younger Westies’ interest in cocaine trafficking. The older generation fears that shift could bring “more heat, more prison time, and more informants.”
That internal conflict runs alongside another explosive pressure point: the Westies’ clash with John Gotti and the Gambino crime family. Brancato teases how their situation connects to Gambino leadership—at the time led by Paul Castellano—before John Gotti eventually takes over. He also says those developments are “for Season 2.”.
For Welliver, the moral texture looks different from what fans may remember. Last year. he told Collider that his character is “bent. ” the opposite of Harry Bosch—describing Keenan as a beat cop who still “walks the streets. ” but is corrupt. with a moral compass “completely compromised.” Welliver said Keenan is “a very. very complex and deeply nuanced character.”.
The season. Brancato added. revolves around the Westies’ internal divisions—rooted in the younger generation’s decision to traffic in cocaine. a drug that was “very big in the 80s.” He also described the side plot as something that plays throughout the season. tied to the older Westies’ fear of jail and the possibility that others will “rat on others.”.
With The Westies premiering July 12 on MGM+, the new trailer lands on a simple promise: Hell’s Kitchen is about to get louder—and the people trying to control it may not survive the fight, even before the next family moves in.
Titus Welliver The Westies MGM+ Bosch Harry Bosch crime thriller 1980s Hell’s Kitchen Jacob Javits Convention Center John Gotti Gambino crime family Paul Castellano J.K. Simmons Hilary McCormack Hamish Allan-Headley