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Guy Ritchie's crime drama series MobLand was not always the independent show that audiences watch now. Collider and other sources report that MobLand was initially developed as a spin-off and prequel to Showtime's hit crime series, Ray Donovan.
The show was initially titled The Donovans, and it was meant to delve into the backstory of the Donovan family, which is at the center of the original series featuring Liev Schreiber. Nonetheless, with growth, the creators opted to remanufacture the series into its stand-alone show, abandoning all the direct linkages to Ray Donovan and eventually renaming it as MobLand.
The change granted the creative crew, including writer Ronan Bennett and director Guy Ritchie, a chance to design a fresh plot with unique characters and a bleaker, more brutal tone than in the initial series.
The original plan: A Ray Donovan Spin-Off
MobLand was initially conceived as The Donovans, a series that was going to act as a prequel and spin-off of Showtime's Ray Donovan. As per Collider, the series was sold as an origin story involving the Donovan family before what happens in the original series.
Guy Ritchie was on board as director and executive producer right from the beginning, despite never being involved in the original Ray Donovan series. The series was announced in February 2024 as a Paramount+ original and had a cast consisting of Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren.
Pierce Brosnan disclosed in an interview that he was first going to be cast as the grandfather or great-grandfather of Ray Donovan, and the initial script had a strong connection to the universe of Ray Donovan. The idea was to look for the family's London criminal origins and give a cross-Atlantic connection to the American show.
The transition to a standalone series
From February to October 2024, the project's direction took a dramatic turn. SlashFilm and The Hollywood Reporter report that the creative team decided to break the series away from the Ray Donovan franchise.
The reasons behind this change were not publicly disclosed, but reports indicate that Ronan Bennett and Guy Ritchie wished to have greater creative control to create their vision, which was darker and more brutal than the original series. Consequently, the title of the show was changed to MobLand, and any references to the Donovan family and the world of Ray Donovan were eliminated.
The series was even momentarily titled The Associates during this period before settling upon its end title. This enabled the writers and performers to establish fresh backstories and delve into unique characters without being bound by pre-existing franchise history.
The final product: MobLand on Paramount+
MobLand launched on Paramount+ on March 30, 2025. It is a series set in London, with a violent gang war between two criminal families, the Harrigans and the Stevensons. Tom Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, a Harrigan family fixer, under the leadership of Brosnan and Mirren. It depicts the intensifying war between the families and the attempts to safeguard the criminal business of the Harrigans.
The decision to make MobLand a standalone series appears to have paid off. The series was an immediate hit and one of Paramount+'s top-watched premieres. Its standalone tone and story have made it stand out as different from traditional crime dramas. Although it carries some of the gritty, family-oriented aspects of Ray Donovan with it, MobLand is known today as a separate, original program.
Why was the change made?
The official reasons for abandoning the Ray Donovan tie-in have not yet been revealed. Still, those close to the production indicate that the creative forces felt the material would be best served by having its beginnings without the burden of expectations and whatever defined style came with being part of the Ray Donovan universe.
The more brutal and dark tone of MobLand was also far removed from the original show, so an abrupt change made more sense for both the tone and direction of the story.
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MobLand is available to watch on Paramount+.
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