MobLand’s Conrad Harrigan isn’t the first killer Pierce Brosnan has played, but he is one of the actor’s most intense roles.
As the Irish-born patriarch of a London crime family struggling to keep his house in order — with the help of Tom Hardy’s exceedingly competent and polite fixer, Harry Da Souza — Brosnan plays Conrad with a volatile edge that seems to constantly boil underneath his silver-haired, Celtic farmer-esque veneer. As we see in the first episode of executive producers Ronan Bennett and Jez Butterworth’s Paramount+ gangster drama, Conrad presides over his criminal empire as both arsonist and firefighter. He is also a man who can enjoy a meal at a high-class restaurant one minute, as seen in the show’s opening moments, before descending into the establishment’s basement to snuff out what little life a bullet-riddled rival has left.
That violent streak, which clashes with both the character and actor’s steely demeanor, didn’t originate in MobLand, however. It began as a prequel to another crime-heavy drama under the Paramount umbrella: Showtime’s Ray Donovan.
"When this job came across my desk last summer [2024], it was called The Donovans," Brosnan tells the Television Academy. "I was going to play the grandfather or great-grandfather to Ray Donovan, something like that. There were five scripts, and I just loved the writing of Ronan Bennett (The Day of the Jackal). And, of course, Jez Butterworth (The Agency) is a great wordsmith and a great dramatist. So I said ‘yes.’"
Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren in a key scene from MobLand / Photo Credit: Paramout+
Helen Mirren — whose numerous career accolades include four Emmys and an Oscar — also said "yes" to the role of Conrad’s Machievllian wife, Maeve. Seductive and ruthless she Lady MacBeths her way into her conflicted husband’s state of mind and provokes him to pull the trigger, point blank, to dispatch Archie Hammond (Alex Jennings), his oldest friend and confidant. Conrad and Maeve’s dynamic is one rich with tension and backstory, the latter being what Brosnan and his co-star had free rein to develop.
"We just came up with a backstory," Brosnan recalls. "Maeve and Conrad, they're Irish. They're from the South. Their families grew up close to each other. They became young lovers. She got pregnant. But he's got a roving eye, Conrad, and so they have this fractured relationship — but they love each other. They're joined at the hip. He thinks he's the head of the family but, really, it's Maeve who's manipulating it. [Conrad] knows that, and he allows it to happen in some regards. At least, that's my inner workings as the actor. The story we’ve told ourselves. That’s not necessarily what's on the page." (According to Brosnan, he and Hardy never once spoke about their respective characters’ backstory or history).
The page is where Conrad and Maeve’s backstory deepens the drama and raises the stakes, especially in the wake of the aforementioned homicide — when he guns down Archie in the parlor room of his lavish, countryside home — in front of a large portion of the show’s ensemble. When Maeve tries to comfort her guilt-ridden husband, he verbally lashes out at her with a force that feels as violent as the shooting. That cutting remark concludes a very long and memorable scene within the premiere episode — one that Brosnan and company completed in one day.
"It was intense in the sense that it was a seven- or eight-page scene, and I was the one leading the charge. And so, as the actor, you're sitting there in the company of eight magnificent actors, and you're in control of the scene. So it was a very demanding day's work. It’s also a very bold, strong, aggressive gesture of character at the very end of that scene."
Brosnan and Tom Hardy share a tense scene / Photo credit: Paramount+
In addition to Conrad’s physical and verbal outbursts, Brosnan relished the opportunity to shape his character’s physical appearance. Especially when it came to wardrobe and hair.
"I sat in the [makeup] chair and we talked about shaving the head," Brosnan recalls with a laugh. Obviously, they didn’t go that route, but production and the actor settled on what Brosnan calls a “kind of cubist, fascist-like haircut.” (The look is tricky to pull off, but the former James Bond credits his "good head of Celtic hair" for allowing him to do so.)
"Once I had the hair and found the accent," he continues, "I had the courage to play with such a strong brogue — a strong Kerry accent. Then the wardrobe, the jacket he wears when outside. In my mind, he was a farmer — a pig farmer. So his attire, his appearance, it all made sense when it came together — especially when [Conrad] does an impersonation of a pig. It’s all very creepy and strange."
What isn’t strange is how successful MobLand has proven for the streaming service — the show broke records to become Paramount+’s most watched global premiere ever. Brosnan hopes the high viewership and critical praise continue, especially given how much he enjoys his part in the gritty drama’s success.
Brosnan’s approach to the role — “his walk, his sound” — even influenced the scripts. "The writing of Jez Butterworth is so rich and nuanced," he says. "The more I played Conrad, the more he wrote into that style and the vernacular of that kind of character. But Jez and I, we never spoke [about Conrad’s backstory]. We only ever had one conversation, and he said: ‘You’ve taken a big dive on this. You've committed.'"
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MobLand is now streaming on Paramount+.
