MobLand Wouldn’t Exist Without Liev Schreiber’s 7-Part Crime Drama

Tom Hardy’s MobLand is an exciting British thriller series that has been renewed for season 2, but this would not have been possible without Liev Schreiber’s fantastic Ray Donovan. MobLand centers on a brutal turf war among London gangsters, and while the first episode had the biggest global launch of a Paramount+ series with 2.2 million viewers, the 10-part crime thriller keeps getting better.

MobLand has the perfect team behind it. Director Guy Ritchie’s best projects have mostly been gangster movies, and Tom Hardy made his career playing gangster characters, including both Kray twins. While the show is a standalone series with an original story, the initial plan for MobLand had been very different, and linked to another standout crime drama TV show.

MobLand Was Originally Created To Be A British Spinoff Of Ray Donovan

Ray Donovan is not only one of Liev Schreiber’s best TV shows, but it has one of the most interesting premises for a TV crime drama. He stars as the titular character who works as a Los Angeles fixer for high-profile clients. The show was already set to be dark, cinematic, and often hilarious, but Ray Donovan also introduced a new dynamic.

With the arrival of Donovan’s father, newly released from prison, Ray Donovan features one of TV’s best crime families. The relationship between father and son and the chemistry between Jon Voight and Liev Schreiber sparked the idea for a spinoff show called The Donovans, which would have served as a prequel documenting the Donovan family’s crime business.

Guy Ritchie was set to direct the Ray Donovan spinoff and while the show was not made as originally intended, the concept was reworked. MobLand is not connected to Ray Donovan and is heavily influenced by British crime culture rather than Hollywood, but it has the same tone and carries elements of the original idea, featuring a fixer character like Ray, played by Tom Hardy.

How MobLand Became A Massive Streaming Hit On Paramount+

MobLand was one of Paramount+’s most popular streaming hits when it arrived, and after dropping off the charts for a while, it is experiencing a resurgence ahead of season 2’s release. An advert for season 2 narrated by the acting legend Helen Mirren sparked interest in viewers who missed the first season, and the first look as Tom Hardy’s return seems promising.

That said, while the adverts and intriguing glimpses of the next season have helped, the show has become immensely popular through word of mouth, building interest organically. As season 2 could turn MobLand into an international crime drama by setting part of the story in Spain, this has raised the stakes, and thriller fans are now catching up on the show before it continues.

Why Ray Donovan Should Still Be Considered One Of The Best Crime Dramas Of The Past Decade

MobLand may have a slightly higher Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating than Ray Donovan, but the earlier show is still one of the best and most rewatchable crime dramas of the past decade. Even years after its release and despite the initial spinoff idea being changed, Ray Donovan is still a benchmark to measure modern crime dramas against.

The show is extremely intelligent, giving the calculating Donovan new problems to solve with every episode, forcing him to think creatively, including dying a stalker green and blackmailing a complex and linked series of people. Unlike many crime shows with a charismatic lead, Ray Donovan gives attention to the excellent supporting cast, creating a consistent and many-layered series.

Ray Donovan‘s greatest strength is Schreiber’s performance as the morally-flexible antihero, and judging by this standard, it is likely that MobLand will continue to succeed as its spiritual prequel. Tom Hardy is the perfect actor for the role of Harry Da Souza, and unlike in MobLand with its two warring families, there is room on streaming TV for two great crime family shows.