The Westies’ Tom Brittney and Sarah Bolger Explain Why Jimmy and Bridget’s Secrets Keep Them Together

By the end of The Westies Season 1 Episode 7, “A Boy Made of Trouble,” Bridget Walsh and Jimmy Roarke have set into motion events that will change their lives forever.

Bridget, who couldn’t bring herself to assassinate the man responsible for her family’s deaths if it meant others would get caught in the crossfire, is taking a more personal and very dangerous approach.

Jimmy, who has been ride or die for Eamon Sweeney through some of Sweeney’s worst decisions, has finally realized that the man doesn’t care for him, or anyone else, more than he does power.

What happens next matters, of course. But what interests me even more is what it means for Jimmy and Bridget personally.

They are crossing lines they’ve been loath to cross during The Westies Season 1, and no matter how things ultimately play out, neither will emerge unchanged.

That’s why, when I caught up with Tom Brittney and Sarah Bolger over Zoom last week, we didn’t spend our time chasing plot points or trying to pry loose finale spoilers.

This is a battle for the characters themselves: who Jimmy and Bridget believe themselves to be, how far they’re willing to go, and what happens when the path they’ve been walking suddenly forks in directions they may never have seriously considered.

And it quickly became clear that Brittney and Bolger have thought deeply about all of it. They aren’t merely in tune with Jimmy and Bridget individually.

They understand the peculiar mechanics of their relationship: the secrecy that might destroy another couple, the strange freedom they give one another, and the love that allows them to exist in a violent world without constantly demanding explanations neither can safely give.

Their actions may be carried out individually, but Bridget and Jimmy have built something together that feels remarkably sturdy considering everything surrounding them.

They may even have enough love to forgive all trespasses.

And their mutual love and support could be the only thing that gets them through what comes next.

When the series began, I was really concerned about Bridget and Jimmy because they kept so much from each other, and yet now I realize that that’s not a problem and they have this deep trust for each other. But how did they get there?

Do we have a backstory about how they met and how they became this incredible power couple that trust each other so immensely?

Tom: Yeah, I mean, there’s a bit of backstory that comes out through Father Michael talking to you, I think, Sarah, talking about how he kind of set us up, having an understanding of who Jimmy was and an understanding of who Bridget was and thought they’d make a perfect couple.

And it seems Father Michael was right. But I think what you said about them hiding so much from each other — that was something that Sarah and I really talked about. “Okay, how do we make this function? Why is this the thing that keeps us together?”

And I think that they were two people — Bridget or Sarah has her past that I don’t think potentially Jimmy even knows quite a bit about, but maybe not all the details.

And she obviously knows what he does for a living. And I think that we kind of went, well, look, Jimmy’s going to come back with blood on his hands, literally.

There are going to be times when he cannot tell her exactly what he’s done for her safety, and to keep it from being distasteful, he’ll kind of keep work outside the door.

And that’s the only way that they could survive. And I think Sarah and I both said we hadn’t seen a relationship like this in a mob genre thing before.

Sarah:  Yeah. I thought, also, what was so special was the use of secrecy, right? Like the idea that let’s turn that on its head. What that would be the thing that would corrupt a relationship that would erode?

And what if the romance actually is fed by their secrecy, that level of keeping something back is part of their dynamic and a part of what keeps them excited and exciting to one another.

So it’s not to their detriment; it actually aids their romance. And I think there’s something very cool about that.

And it’s something that we really explored. Ultimately, I think that’s what will keep them together in a unique way.

And Tom, you just mentioned that Jimmy’s trying to keep his work and what’s happening in his life away from Bridget.

And yet, Bridget is walking in the same path, even though they aren’t sharing that. And I’m wondering, what does this say about their devotion, not only to each other, but to their goals?

And they don’t know a lot about each other’s goals. So how does that impact their goals and their relationship?

Tom:  I think they live very much in the present. I think it was something actually, [creators] Michael [Panes] and Chris [Brancato], at the beginning, they kind of asked me, they said, ‘Oh, what do you think Jimmy’s kind of future is? Do you think he dreams of white picket fences?’

‘And this idea of not being in this world anymore?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t. I actually don’t think he dreams that far ahead.’

And I don’t think that white picket fences and the idea of being out of this world and this part of Hell’s Kitchen is a reality. I think he lives day to day. And I think that’s what people who grow up in these kinds of environments, their mentality is — it’s day-to-day survival.

And if you can have enough money to get through to the next day, and I think actually, when there’s a big scene, a kind of fracture between us, briefly, in some ways, when Jimmy starts getting into the cocaine business.

It is a big deal; it’s very different from the work he’s done before. This is serious jail time; it could be different from anything that you’ve done before.

But Jimmy kind of tries to defend it by saying, for the first time, ‘I actually don’t want to live in this place anymore,’ and talks about kids and a future.

And the reason, and then it’s quickly kind of shot down by Bridget, because of the exact reason of, you know, of going, ‘Well, how can we have kids?’

Yeah, we were both one step away from blowing ourselves up or killing and being killed, throwing ourselves in jail.

Sarah:  Yeah, the scene in episode five is actually the one, I think, like the Bible of their origin stories.

We both allow the two characters to allow each other to dream and also dream in the gray, in the unique, in the power hungry, in the violence in things that maybe are more unique to dream on.

But then ultimately, they’re just trying to keep each other alive, whilst neither is trying to keep themselves alive, which I think is a very interesting dynamic.

Tom: Yeah.

Sarah, right now, Bridget is focused on vengeance for her family. And what I wonder is, who does she become once she achieves that, if she achieves it?

And how will that change her? Because as you said, they don’t think two steps ahead. They’re thinking in the moment, and I don’t think they realize what their actions could mean for them or each other going forward.

Sarah: Yeah, I think, I think survival for this group of people is very much today, and we’ll deal with tomorrow if we get there. I think that’s the ethos. And I think for something like vengeance, which can be a white rage in your unblinding, I think that there is no tomorrow.

So when she, if she gets to survive and see through this ghost that has haunted her, this nightmare that’s plagued her, I don’t know what vacuum she’ll have to deal with, what emptiness she’ll find at the end of that.

Because when you find yourself finishing the all-consuming act, I think you can be left with a lot of self-reckoning, and seeing the things that were very broken, but you just kept running on the broken ankle, and you didn’t notice you were in pain.

And I think that’s what, and please God, if we ever get to season two, that that’s what we’ll be dealing with Bridget in future episodes.

And you know, she did say that she imagines when that’s all over, that she can open herself completely to Jimmy. Do you think that’s just a dream on her part, or do you think she might have put a little thought into what it might look like?

Sarah: I think that’s the rationale. I think anything to do the deed, actually. I think whatever, I think a soldier can come up with all the reasons, right, to be on the field.

I think you can. You have to believe, you have to believe. And you also don’t want to think you’re the worst person in the world. You don’t want to put yourself in the shoes of being villainous.

So I think there’s a lot of rationale there. But I think reality can wake you up. And I think reality is what you might have to deal with soon.

And kind of the same question for you, Tom, about Jimmy.

Tom: Can you ask me the question again? I was just listening to Sarah’s fantastic answer.

Well, that was for her. But when it comes to Jimmy, who is Jimmy if there’s no more Eamon Sweeney? What happens?

Does he decide to work with John Gotti? Does he forge a different path? And who is he as a leader, if there isn’t somebody else leading him? Have you put any thought into that?

Tom: Yes. But I think it’s a complete unknown quantity.

I think he’s been a kind of de facto leader of the younger guys. But he’s always had someone above him. And I think there’s a safety in, even if he’s disagreed with that person, as we see through the series, kind of more and more, he’s always had that father figure.

And to become unshackled from that parental, that toxic parental relationship, I do wonder if it’s going to leave him untethered. And I’d like to think that he finds some footing.

I’d like to be optimistic that he will find that he’s maybe good at it, that he’s trying to do a different tactic in the way that he treats the men kind of below him or around him, with kind of kindness and humanity, while he’s had a leader who’s kind of had some coldness to him.

But I wonder whether he will discover that maybe there’s a middle ground, or that Sweeney may be right that warmth and kindness don’t go very far in the world of crime. And you’re going to have John Gotti. John Gotti is not going to have the same warmth for him.

He’s going to have lots of enemies now.

And my time is basically up, but I have to just get your quick take, knowing what actually becomes of the Westies. How does that impact how you portray your characters? Or does it allow you to be free?

Because you know that there’s kind of an ending. Does knowing that impact you?

Tom:  Well, no, I think it’s, it’s a tough one because I mean, it’s more for Chris and Michael in some ways, because of course there are books, there are things written about the real Westies and stuff out there in the public domain, which all of us actors read.

And we all had a pretty clear understanding of the real Westies. It would be wrong not to, but we also had to free ourselves of that and concentrate on what Chris and Michael had done so that we didn’t overburden ourselves with it.

Because our characters are loosely, very loosely based. Some more and some less than others.

But I think knowing that, there are some things in the first season — characters and some moments that lean towards some true events that I think ultimately probably, maybe go the way that the real Westies did.

Unless we do a Quentin Tarantino and pretend the Westies just carried on and became wonderful businessmen and women. [chuckles]

Sarah: Because we’re inspired by. In terms of artistic license, I think there are so many characters that did not exist in that space. So thus, we can create the sort of avenues of chaos that didn’t exist. And that would still make for very exciting episodes and seasons.

I think we’re inspired to follow their path to a degree, but ultimately, it’s forever winding and I’m excited for what Chris and Michael can cook up for us. 📺

And there you have it.

After that explosive penultimate episode, what’s next?

Will Jimmy finally leave Sweeney behind? Will he join forces with Gotti, arguably the greater of two evils? Or will he try to make a go of it on his own, knowing Sweeney may now see him as an enemy?

Will Bridget succeed in ending one torment only to discover she has created another?

Because vengeance has given her direction for so long that even victory comes with a frightening question: Who is Bridget when there is no longer anyone left to avenge?

And perhaps most importantly, what happens to Bridget and Jimmy when the secrets they’ve learned to live with begin producing consequences neither of them can keep outside the door?

Brittney and Bolger clearly believe there is far more to explore, and after hearing how much thought they’ve put into the unusual bond holding these two together, it’s difficult not to agree.

Their choices may drive them closer. They may threaten everything they’ve built.

But if anyone in Hell’s Kitchen has a chance of surviving the sins they commit separately, it may be the two people who have somehow learned how to forgive all trespasses together.

We’ll find out when The Westies Season 1 finale, “The Irish Goodbye,” airs Sunday, August 23, on MGM+.