"Gangstering is pretty dramatic" — Tom Hardy speaks up about his role as Harry Da Souza in Guy Ritchie's MobLand

In the Paramount+ TV series MobLand, Tom Hardy has taken on the role of Harry Da Souza, a fixer entangled in the ruthless affairs of the Harrigan crime family in London.

Although he is no stranger to playing such complex roles, this character allowed him to do exactly what he wanted, according to a Business Insider article published on March 31, 2025.

"I mean, gangstering is pretty dramatic, isn't it? Immoral? Very much so," he told the outlet.

Playing Da Souza in MobLand was an enthralling challenge for Hardy.

"An exercise in containment, of how to deal with people's problems and concerns in a way that he was unfazed, and how to justify that in a natural way," is how Hardy addressed the role.

Tom Hardy explained that how he would bring the character to the screen was something that excited him.

MobLand follows the story of the Harrigans, who find themselves against the Stevensons. Harry Da Souza is hired as a fixer for the Harrigans to stop the tension between the two families from intensifying and a potential gang war. The series also stars Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren in lead roles.

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Tom Hardy revealed the inspiration behind his role as Harry DaSouza in MobLand

From the villain Bane in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises to the Jewish gangster Alfie Solomons in Steven Knight's Peaky Blinders, Tom Hardy has played his fair share of complicated characters.

Even so, the role that inspired his character of Da Souza is the one he played in Steven Knight's 2013 thriller, Locke.

"I've always wanted to play somebody who's contained after I did a film called 'Locke' with Steven Knight. I enjoyed the level of containment that was required to play high stakes emotionally with people who are quite irregular in many aspects," he told in the Business Insider interview.

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Tom Hardy on reuniting with Guy Ritchie on MobLand

Guy Ritchie is widely known for making gangster films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Gentlemen. In 2008, he wrote and directed the movie RocknRolla, which starred Tom Hardy as a supporting character named Handsome Bob, a closeted gay mobster.

In the interview with Business Insider, Hardy revealed that he did not get much opportunity to work with Ritchie in RocknRolla, although he loved working on the movie. So, MobLand presented him with the opportunity to not only reunite with Ritchie but also bring years of experience to his role as the leading man.

"Now I'm sort of older and have been around the block a bit more, Guy is somebody that I wanted to go back and work with," Hardy revealed.

The Venom star added that he felt that it was time to return to "the gangster world, and the miscreant world."

"I think Guy has his own signature style for that, which has been punctuated into popular culture. So I was really keen to go back and do something a bit more meaty," he continued.

Guy Ritchie has directed the first two episodes of the series of the four episodes released so far. He also serves as an executive producer on the series.

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New episodes of MobLand air weekly on Paramount+.