What To Know
- Mobland Season 2 introduces a new foe in Johnny Flynn’s Frankie.
- Here, the actor reveals his inspiration for the character’s vintage villainy.
There’s a new baddie in town in MobLand. Johnny Flynn makes a very colorful entrance to the series as Frankie a.k.a. Beast, a formidable foe to the Harrigan family.
In the latest trailer alone, we see Beast cornering Bella (Lara Pulver), blowing up a building, smashing someone’s face in, and quietly promising that the “fairy tale’s over” for the London crime family.
If the actor’s costuming and general demeanor in MobLand Season 2 reminds you of a different generation of screen villainy, well, that’s by design. Speaking to TV Insider, the British actor admitted to being inspired by certain vintage characters in his portrayal of the newcomer nemesis.
When we mentioned being reminded of A Clockwork Orange‘s lead in his cadence, Flynn explained, “It’s interesting. There were a lot of things from that same era, the sort of late ’60s to mid-’70s that I was thinking of. There’s a playwright called Joe Wharton, who I love, and a lot of his characters have that same kind of maybe sexually ambiguous menace and eeriness.”
Paramount+
Additionally, Flynn explained, “There’s a lot of classic kind of British [stories], whether even like the Carry On films and Kenneth Williams and that sort of stuff … that he references later on in the show. Frankie starts talking about everything that he’s into, and you kind of realize he’s a product of all that culture. So yeah, that mixed with the Gallagher brothers and this sort of type archetype of a kind of old-fashioned Cockney spiv that I like to play. So yeah, it’s fun.”
The official description for Season 2 indicates just how much trouble Frankie and others will have: “In the upcoming season, the Harrigans struggle to show a unified front as rising rivals threaten their fractured criminal empire – and Harry Da Souza, their street-smart and formidable ‘fixer,’ must walk a dangerous tightrope when tensions within the family intensify. As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy.”
MobLand, Season 2 Premiere, September 18, Paramount+