'Gangs of New York' TV Series in Development, Martin Scorsese to Direct

A TV series adaptation of The Gangs of New York is in development at Miramax, and Martin Scorsese is set to direct some of it.

Deadline reports that Scorsese will direct the first two episodes of the show, which is based on Herbert Asbury’s 1927 non-fiction book of the same name. The director previously helmed the Oscar-nominated 2002 movie adaptation of the book, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Camero Diaz, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Details on the series remain scarce for now, but playwright and TV writer Brett Leonard has penned the script.

It’s unclear when the show is expected to either enter production or arrive, and it currently does not have an attached network or streamer. However, the prestige of Scorsese’s involvement means it likely won’t stay that way for long. This isn’t his first time attempting to adapt the book for the small screen, as he announced a show focused on the gangs of Chicago and New Orleans in 2013. That project never came to fruition, though.

Gangs of New York marks yet another foray into the world of television for Scorsese, who previously helped bring HBO’s Boardwalk Empire to life as both executive producer and director of the pilot episode. He later collaborated with HBO on the short-lived period drama Vinyl, which he also directed the pilot episode of. He directed the seven-episode documentary series Pretend It’s a City last year, and is attached to produce an adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 non-fiction book The Devil in the White City.

He’s also got a number of movie projects on the way, including the documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only, which just recently premiered at the 60th New York Film Festival. His next major motion picture project, however, is the Apple Studios-produced Killers of the Flower Moon, a western drama starring his frequent collaborators DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, alongside the likes of Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, John Lithgow, and Brendan Fraser.