Danny Boyle’s new TV drama Pistol finally has a release date.
The six-episode series, based on guitarist Steve Jones’ harrowing and hilarious 2017 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol, is set to land on Disney+ on May 31, and will tell the story of the founding member of the Sex Pistols’ journey from Hammersmith lad to punk legend.
Australian actor Toby Wallace – who won a Marcello Mastroianni Award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival for his role in the film Babyteeth – will play the young Jones, joined by Anson Boon as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as drummer Paul Cook, and Christian Lees as bass guitarist Glen Matlock.
Two first look images from Pistol were also shared this week, with one showing Boyle’s Sex Pistols standing together next to a bus, pulling faces at the camera. In a second photo, the band looks younger and the clothes they are wearing look less recognisably punk.
Other cast members include The Queen’s Gambit’s Thomas Brodie-Sangster as the band’s manager Malcolm McLaren, Iris Law as Soo Catwoman and Westworld’s Talulah Riley as designer Vivienne Westwood.
The FX series also marks Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams’s most prominent role on the small screen since HBO’s epic fantasy series finished in 2019. Williams will play Pamela Rooke aka Jordan Mooney, who worked with Westwood and the Sex boutique in the mid-seventies.
The series has been created and written by Craig Pearce, a frequent collaborator of Baz Luhrmann who is best known for Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby. Boyle directed gritty cult classic Trainspotting in 1996, and has gone on to direct Slumdog Millionaire, which earned him a Best Director Oscar in 2008, as well as 28 Days Later, 127 Hours and the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.
But production hasn’t all been smooth sailing. In April last year, in an interview with The Sunday Times, the band’s singer John Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten, said that the series was the, “most disrespectful s**t”. Later, he filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates, to stop Sex Pistols music being used in the series, but he eventually lost the case in August 2021. So, Sex Pistols fans can look forward to their favourite tracks blasting throughout the series.
The series will premiere on Hulu in the US, and on Disney+ in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.
