Earlier this week, industry insider Matt Belloni reported that MobLand star Tom Hardy had been fired from the Paramount+ crime drama series after numerous run-ins with producers due to repeatedly arriving late to set, as well as giving unwarranted notes on the scripts and changing dialogue.
The Venom star is also said to have expressed dissatisfaction that MobLand features an ensemble cast, though it wasn't clear at the time if he had actually had specific issues with any of his co-stars.
Variety would later report that Hardy had not actually been fired - at least, not yet - but did indeed clash with producers. The trade's source claimed:
"He refused to come out of his trailer for hours at a time. He kept the cast waiting, [which is] a power play. Keeping Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and others waiting is career suicide, I would wager."
Ridiculous overreactions aside, there's been speculation that the real issues may have arisen from Hardy's pro-Palestine stance, which is said to have led to arguments with co-star Helen Mirren in the past.
Whether there's any truth to this is not clear, but Mirren has now taken to social media to show her support for Hardy.
Mirren posted a photo of her co-star and wrote, “Love you now and always.”
Damage control? Possibly, but either way, the Hardy situation is now said to be "fluid," and there's every chance he will reprise his role if the show does get picked up for a third season.
Hardy plays fixer Harry Da Souza in the show, which launched on Paramount+ last spring and quickly became the streamer's second most-watched series. Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Paddy Considine also star as members of the crime family Harry works for.
This isn't the first time Hardy has clashed with colleagues on set, as he had a fiery confrontation with co-star Charlize Theron while shooting Mad Max: Fury Road. The Apex star's issues reportedly stemmed from Hardy's tardiness back then, too, and director George Miller has admitted that he had to play mediator.
Hardy has previously teased what viewers can expect from the second season.
"[It will touch on] the control of drugs, ammunition, weapons, people and all kinds of things that go through Europe, from Africa through to South America, Pakistan and the variable commodities that move around Europe," he told THR last year. "There are families that are involved in each European country that are vying for power to have that status to be able to move these kind of commodities through, and who polices that and how that fits into a world stage."
Set in modern-day London, the story centers on the Harrigans, an Irish crime family led by the cold and calculating Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and the highly manipulative matriarch Maeve (Helen Mirren). For decades, the Harrigans maintained an uneasy truce with the Stevenson family. That peace shatters when Conrad's grandson, Eddie, stabs a man in a nightclub alongside Richie Stevenson’s son, Tommy, who mysteriously disappears in the aftermath.
With Tommy missing and Richie out for revenge, the Harrigan family is thrust into an all-out war. Caught directly in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza, a loyal but non-blood member of the family tasked with tracking down Tommy, cleaning up Eddie's messes, and keeping his own family out of danger.