It looks like Tom Hardy will be sticking around to keep the other MobLand gangsters on edge after all.
Last month, reports circulated online that 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 was 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.
The trades would later report that Hardy had not actually been fired, but did indeed clash with producers. Variety'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 was any truth to this is not clear, but Mirren addressed the rumours that she clashed with Hardy during the MobLand season 2 shoot, making it clear that she would work with him, “Absolutely. In a [frick]ing heartbeat,” again if the series were to return for a third season.
“I love Tom, I think he’s the most amazing actor,” she told Variety. “Different actors have different processes. I’ve learnt over the years that some people get to things faster. As long as what’s on the screen is fantastic, I’m totally chilled with however someone gets there. Tom is a very special person. I think he’s absolutely remarkable. My support of him is genuine and heartfelt.”
Whatever may or may not have gone down behind the scenes, everything seems to have been resolved. Deadline reports that Hardy, Butterworth and executive producer David Glasser of 101 Studios met in London along with executive producer Guy Ritchie to "chart a way forward."
Season 3 of MobLand has yet to be confirmed, but if the show does return, Hardy will be back in the fold.
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. Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, 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.