Miramax & Scorsese Developing ‘Gangs of New York’ TV Series

Martin Scorsese’s fictional historical drama Gangs of New York is heading to the small screen, ten years after the film hit theaters. The show will marks Miramax Film Corp. first production since investors bought the company from Walt Disney Co.

The potential series, which will expand from the movie’s focus on 19th-century New York gangs to explain the birth of organized crime in America, does not yet have a network attached. The story will also take place in other cities including Chicago and New Orleans.

Scorsese said of Gangs,

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.

The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury’s 1928 non-fiction book ‘The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld,’ which had been a passion project for the filmmaker for years.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis film received 10 Oscar nominations, though it won none.

Scorsese’s first foray into television, HBO’s period gangster drama ‘Boardwalk Empire’ will bow its fourth season this year.

Hopefully, we’ll hear more about a Gangs of New York TV show soon.