MGM releases trailer for new crime drama The Westies

The first trailer for the new crime drama "The Westies" was released on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, ahead of the series' premiere next month. The eight-episode show, starring J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver, will debut on the MGM streaming service on July 12 with a two-episode release, followed by weekly episodes.

Set in the early 1980s, the series dramatizes the conflicts surrounding the real-life Irish-American organized crime gang of the same name. The story centers on the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the Westies' home turf in New York's Hell's Kitchen, a project that promises a major financial windfall for the gang. Despite being vastly outnumbered by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies' reputation for brutality allows them to negotiate a fragile détente to share the spoils.

Internal strife, however, threatens the gang's stability. The show's official synopsis describes a powder keg ignited by conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership, a dynamic that also draws the Westies into an expanding FBI investigation targeting the Italian mafia.

J.K. Simmons plays Eamon Sweeney, the charismatic but ruthless...