'Gangs of London' Lands Season 4 Commission

There are very few long-running shows one could call victims of the streaming era. Most shows from the last few decades that ran smack into the headwinds of the oversaturated TV market simply never made it to Season 2. A few managed to eke out enough renewals to break through finally; Industry, for example, was heading towards long-running oblivion until someone at HBO pulled their head out of the sand and remembered that to get people to watch new series, you have to market them. Thus far, Gangs of London has also managed to persevere, with the show renewed for Season 4 even though Season 3 has yet to be released in the US, and it is unlikely to perform well when it does.

In the era before streaming, Gangs of London would have been a significant part of AMC's linear channel or a massive hit for BBC America. The series' top-line actors include Game of Thrones' Michelle Fairley, Star Trek's Colm Meaney, and Slow Horses' Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù. The original showrunner, Gareth Evans, was known for his heightened, violent dramas that appeal to Americans. However, Season 1 was released on the newly launched and deeply under-subscribed-to AMC+ when it first crossed the pond, and the reality is that it has never recovered from that.

Sky and AMC have attempted multiple times to address what is actually a marketing and reach issue by rearranging the deck chairs behind the scenes. Season 2 was handed to Corin Hardy (The Nun); when that didn't magically fix it, Season 3 went to Kin's Peter McKenna, who wound up paired with South Korean filmmaker Kim Hong-Sun. It will come as no surprise that the two are not included in the Season 4 announcement.