Gangs of New York TV series in the works with Martin Scorsese set to direct

Whoopsy daisy! Twenty years after directing The Gangs of New York, Deadline reports that Martin Scorsese is set to helm a TV series adaptation for Miraxmax Television. The original movie was based on Herbert Asbury’s 1927 non-fiction book of the same name and starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz.

The Gangs of New York TV series is being developed by Brett Leonard (Shantaram), and Deadline hears that this will be a new take on the story with new characters who weren’t featured in the Martin Scorsese movie. Herbert Asbury’s novel dealt with the rise and fall of 19th century gangs in New York City, prior to the domination of the Italian-American Mafia during Prohibition in the 1920s. In addition to directing the first two episodes of the Gangs of New York series, Scorsese will also executive produce. The last time Martin Scorsese headed to the small screen to direct a tale of old-timey, organized crime, we got Boardwalk Empire, one of the greatest crime dramas of all-time in my opinion.

If the idea of a Gangs of New York TV series sounds familiar to you, well, this isn’t the first time they’ve tried it. Martin Scorsese and Miramax attempted to get a Gangs of New York TV series off the ground back in 2013. Not only would the series have followed organized gangs in New York, but it also would have branched out to other cities around the United State to chart the rise of organized crime. In a statement at the time, Scorsese said, “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.” How do you feel about Gangs of New York getting the TV treatment?