It has been announced that Miramax Television will be shopping around a TV adaptation of Gangs of New York to both premium and streaming networks. Martin Scorsese, who directed the 2002 Oscar-nominated film version of Gangs of New York, is attached to direct the first two episodes of the series. Playwright and television writer Brett Leonard is attached to the project as a writer as well. The show will be taken out to buyers in November.
The upcoming series and the 2002 film are both based on Herbert Asbury’s 1927 non-fiction book The Gangs of New York and will tell the story of rival gangs during the mid-to-late 1800s. It has been reported by various sources that the series will not follow the events of the 2002 film or feature any of the characters portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz. Scorsese will also executive produce the series in addition to directing, alongside Leonard, Rick Yorn, and Chris Donnelly.
In 2013, a different television adaptation of Gangs of New York was in development with Scorsese attached. That series would have explored crime and gangs that existed in other cities such as Chicago and New Orleans during the 1800s. Scorsese seems to have a large interest in crime during the 1800s and 1900s since he was an executive producer on Boardwalk Empire and is also currently attached to produce Hulu's film adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 bestselling novel Devil in the White City. Scorsese spoke about Gangs of New York becoming a television series back when the unmade adaptation was announced, saying, "this time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two-hour film. A television series allows us the time and creative freedom to bring this colorful world, and all the implications it had and still does on our society, to life."
Scorsese is a movie legend who directed such classics as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Scorsese's newest documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only, which was co-directed by David Tedeschi, just premiered at this year's New York Film Festival. Scorsese's next narrative feature film, Killers of the Flower Moon, will be released next year and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Brendan Fraser.
Not many other details are currently known about the currently in-development television adaptation of Gangs of New York, but stay tuned to Collider for more updates.