‘MobLand’ Season 2 Proves the Show Just Wouldn’t Work Without Tom Hardy

A mere 10 minutes into the Season 2 premiere of “MobLand,” aptly titled “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” there is a massacre at the racetrack. Increasingly on edge and triggered by his son Kevin’s (Paddy Considine) disloyalty, Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), patriarch of the Harrigan crime family, lets his temper get the best of him. In a spray of bullets, he ends an already tense partnership with the Turkish mob. Unmoved by the consequences of his own chaos, Conrad does what he’s done for years: call his longtime fixer, Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy), to clean up his mess.
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Erasing crime scenes, tying up loose ends and identifying threats is something Harry can do in his sleep. With a menacing calm that pulsates off of him, Harry is neither alarmed nor surprised when he receives a call from Conrad. But Harry’s position in the Harrigan dynasty has cost him a great deal. His 18-year marriage to his long-suffering wife Jan (Joanne Froggatt) is in trouble. (In fact, Harry is just now on the mend after accidentally being stabbed by Jan a couple of months prior.) Moreover, the couple’s teenage daughter, Gina (Teddie Allen), infuriated with her parents’ dysfunction, has run off with Kevin’s wannabe gangster son, Eddie (Anson Boon). Unfortunately, Harry doesn’t have the bandwidth to deal with his wife and daughter, and as usual he turns his attention to the Harrigans, whose family unit is coming apart at the seams. Even matriarch Maeve (Helen Mirren) seems intent on sabotaging her husband for her own gain or perhaps revenge for some festering resentment.  
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As the anchor in the “MobLand” universe, when reports began stirring earlier this spring that Hardy had been axed from the series, audiences were puzzled. The show centers around the work Harry executes to keep the Harrigans thriving in London’s criminal underworld while staying off law enforcement’s radar. Back then, Variety confirmed that after Season 2 wrapped this past March, Hardy fell out with executive producer Jez Butterworth, 101 Studios and others. At the time, reports said the clash was so severe that Hardy would not return for a third season.
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The news of Hardy’s ousting ricocheted across the entertainment world, baffling fans and even some of Hardy’s “MobLand” co-stars. “Tom is a very special person,” Mirren told Variety at the Taormina Film Festival. “I think he’s absolutely remarkable. My support of him is genuine and heartfelt.” As the news spread, “MobLand” producers set a meeting with Hardy in London to hash things out. Now, he is officially returning for Season 3 of the Paramount+ series.
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Though critics received just four episodes of the 10-episode second season of “MobLand” for review, what’s clear to any viewer is that Harry’s position within the Harrigan crime family is undergoing a major transformation. Growing increasingly weary of Conrad’s lack of impulse control, frustrated by Kevin’s cowardice and with his own personal life in shambles, Harry is undoubtedly coming closer to his boiling point.
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After all, not only does he know where all the bodies are buried, but Harry moves with such a calculated callousness that he could very likely dismantle all Conrad and Maeve have built from the inside out. Since Hardy is returning for the third season of the show, Harry will be forced to choose a side, either standing firmly with the Harrigans or going his own way. For the Harrigans’ sake, let’s hope he remains an ally. If the Harrigans’ choose to make an enemy of Harry, what he could unleash would be more brutally murderous than anything Maeve or Conrad could begin to conjure.