Thirty years after exploring the seamy side of Las Vegas in Casino, Martin Scorsese is doubling down. He’s headed back to Sin City as the executive producer on an as-yet unnamed drama miniseries for Netflix. Unlike Casino, the new series will be set in modern times; and while organized crime has a less visible presence in the city, it still has plenty of dark alleys for Scorsese to explore.
According to reports, the series will revolve around Robert “Bobby Red” Redman, who runs the biggest casino in town. He has to make some dangerous bets to stay afloat in the cutthroat modern gambling metropolis. The series will be showrun by Billions creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who have some high-stakes experience of their own: they wrote the scripts for Ocean’s Thirteen and Rounders. Netflix has apparently been eager to work with Scorsese on a TV series since his gangster epic The Irishman became one of the streamer’s first prestige films. While Scorsese‘s pitch was originally a period drama, Netflix brought in Koppelman and Levien, who proposed a contemporary take on the material.
What Other TV Series Has Martin Scorsese Worked On?
While Scorsese is a titan of the silver screen, he’s made significant contributions to the small screen, as well. He made his TV directorial debut back in 1986, on “Mirror, Mirror,” an episode of Steven Spielberg‘s Amazing Stories anthology. He’d remain in the film world until the advent of “prestige TV,” when he executive produced Boardwalk Empire, HBO‘s crime drama about Prohibition-era Atlantic City; he also directed the series’ pilot. Following the end of that series, he executive produced the 1970s-set recording industry drama Vinyl, directing its pilot as well. As part of his relationship with Netflix, he directed a seven-part documentary series, Pretend It’s a City, centering around his conversations with longtime friend Fran Lebowitz. Recently, he has produced a number of TV documentary series, including Theodore Roosevelt, The Last Movie Stars, and Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.
Meanwhile, on the big screen, Scorsese has a number of projects in development. They include a Hawaii-set crime film with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, an adaptation of the mystery novel What Happens at Night, and his long-gestating adaptation of the non-fiction serial killer chronicle The Devil in the White City.
Martin Scorsese’s new Vegas-set Netflix series is in development; no release date has yet been announced.
via Collider