Gangs of London hit the world by storm with his intense action scenes and wild surprises. Season 2 of the season is now streaming on AMC+, and fans should expect more of what they got from the first season. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Gangs of London lead director Corin Hardy who revealed how Season 2 is different from Season 1.ย
“We were putting that together,” Hardy exclusively told PopCutlure about the first season. “No one had seen it. We didn’t know how it was going to go down. We were all operating off of our best instincts of what we wanted to see in a show. Back then, that was Gareth [Evans] and myself and Xavier [Gens] and the cast. And we were really just relieved and reaffirmed when we got such a great reaction to that. So season two was for me, getting handed the reins, a great kind of responsibility and an honor to carry that on. And by that point, I got so kind of deep into the show, I felt I understood what it was and what we were trying to go for. So it was to build upon what we had created in season one, but also to try and expand it by scale.”
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“I guess, bring a lot of emotion into it, build the story around emotion, and then preserve what were the key kind of components of the show, which the sort of family relationship, drama of existing in a world of crime like this, as well as these kind of insane rollercoaster ride action set pieces. And so it was just taking everything as far as we could really.”
Season 1 of Gangs of London saw Sean Wallace (Joe Cole) get shot by Eliot Carter/Finch (Sope Dirisu) who is now working for the investors. Season 2 takes place a year after Sean gets shot, and a new character is introduced to the series. Koba (Waleed Zuaiter) is the leader of the Georgian mafia who is brought into London to bring order to the city, making him the main villain of the season.ย
“Season 1, there wasn’t really a central villain,” Hardy said. “Everyone in it is in some ways a villain, right? Everyone’s a gangster, everyone’s a criminal. And actually, you could say the central villains are largely off-screen when you discover the investors. And I felt like we couldn’t get through a whole second season without maybe centralizing on a villain. But we created Koba on the page and cast fantastic actor Waleed Zuaiter.”
“And Koba, he’s been brought in to establish control over the gangs, this very volatile situation. One year on in London, it’s been a sort of new world order. I love the idea of bringing a central villain that all the gangsters could fear and hate. And they have to fall in line. Some of them don’t, and they get their comeuppance in some ways.”
