#FIRSTLOOK: “THE WESTIES” STARRING J.K. SIMMONS NO STREAMING ON PARAMOUNT+

Today, Paramount+ in Canada announced that the new crime drama series The Westies, starring Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons and co-created by Chris Brancato and Michael Panes, is now available exclusively in Canada. The first two episodes of the 8-episode series, which was filmed on location in Toronto, are streaming now with new episodes dropping weekly on Paramount+.

The Westies is a gritty and kinetic crime drama centering on New York City’s infamously violent Irish gang of the same name. The series is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall. Despite being outnumbered fifty-to-one by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. 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’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.

The cast includes J.K. Simmons as Eamon Sweeney, Titus Welliver as Glenn Keenan, Tom Brittney as Jimmy Roarke, Stanley Morgan as Mickey Flanagan, Sarah Bolger as Bridget Walsh, Jessica Frances Dukes as Agent Birdie Polk, Canadian Hamish Allan-Headley as John Gotti, Canadian Vincent Walsh as Eddie Breen, Allen Leech as Brendan Cahill, Hillary McCormack as Erin Malone. Recurring cast members include Canadian Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Canadian Jeremy Walmsley, Canadian Dylan Taylor and Canadian Rohan Mead.