Actor á¹¢opé Dìrísù has shared his excitement about what Gangs of London fans can expect from the third series – teasing that “there’s something special” about the next installment.
When the first season aired it immediately became Sky’s second-biggest original drama launch of all time, with 2.2 million viewers watching the opening episode.
The ensuing popularity of the show, and its shocking second season finale, means anticipation for the third series is high especially now that Dìrísù’s character, Elliot Finch, is deep in the underbelly of London's gritty gang life – and he looks rather comfortable there.
Sitting down with The Standard, the British star spoke about how he is already excited for what he believes is “the best series yet” . The show went into production last month with a new creative team helmed by executive producers Kim Hong-sun and Peter McKenna.
Reflecting on what they’ve filmed so far, Dìrísù shared: “I had a day on set that I think was one of my favourite days on set of the whole three years of making [Gangs of London] so far.
“And there are just like, not even just moments, but sequences and people this year that make me really excited about this season.
“I don't think I'm allowed to say much more than that but there's something special about what's happening”.
Gangs of London season two's finale brought about major changes for both Elliot Finch and Sean Wallace (played by Joe Cole) after the death of the former’s father resulted in him taking revenge on everyone involved.
His retribution led to the death of Koba as well as the brutal maiming of Billy Wallace. As Sean ended up behind bars for Koba's murder, Elliot became London new criminal kingpin with the Dumanis at his side.
Now that the investors have been crippled by Sean’s actions, what will the empire look like with an ex-undercover cop at the helm? More gruesome scenes a la season one’s meat cleaver battle? Not quite.
According to Dìrísù, viewers will see Elliot explore less physical violence but equally as taxing for his character. Without giving much away, he said filming these scenes made him “squirm but had nothing to do with violence” but rather the “drama of the series”.
He continued: “I was just like, ‘oh my god, this thing that he has to do makes me feel so dirty, it makes me feel so sort of compromised’, and it's excellent to find the different forms of violence that exist in the world.
“It's not just what can end a life or shed blood. It's the things beyond like political violence, for example, or just like emotional violence.
“There's really special writing this year for sure.”
His comments come as the star joined fellow actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and Himesh Patel as well as industry heavyweights to select the EE Rising Star Award shortlist for the 2024 EE Bafta Film Awards.
The Slow Horses star was previously nominated for the award in 2021 – and said being asked to join this year’s jury was a "full circle moment".
“It was an honour to be nominated for the EE Rising Star Award back in 2021 and it’s a full circle moment to now be helping to choose this year’s nominees,” he said.
“It has been a delight to join the jury panel and watch the outstanding performances of each nominee over the past few weeks., I’m excited to follow the trajectory of each actor’s career.”
Adding: “I remember when I was nominated, I just felt so blessed that I've been chosen by a jury of my peers, and also like casting directors and industry entertainment professionals, journalists. So to be able to almost like pay that forward as well is an honour.
“I trust that they had good taste, and I hope I have good taste now.”
