For seven seasons, Ray Donovan stood as one of Showtime’s most essential series. Led by Liev Schreiber as the titular lead, the gritty, character-driven crime thriller built a fiercely loyal audience between 2013 and 2020, blending Hollywood intrigue with brutal family drama. Despite its success, however, *Ray Donovan *remained largely self-contained, aside from its 2022 movie continuation.
That makes its lack of franchise expansion all the more surprising, especially in an era where other 2010s crime hits like Bosch and *Dexter *evolved into sprawling universes. However, Ray Donovan came closer than most realize to getting its own spinoff. A prequel series titled The Donovans was actively in development, expanding the timeline of *Ray Donovan *and exploring the family’s years prior to arriving in the US.
Everything changed when British filmmaker Guy Ritchie boarded the project. Under his direction, Paramount+ pivoted away from a direct prequel, reshaping The Donovans into an entirely new series. The result was the Tom Hardy-led crime drama MobLand. While distinct and set in the UK rather than US, MobLand still carries unmistakable traces of its origins as The Donovans, and they’re not hard to find.
Before MobLand became its own entity, it was conceived as The Donovans, a prequel designed to expand the world of Ray Donovan. Greenlit in 2024, The Donovans would have centered on the earlier generation of the Donovan family, offering insight into how the criminal ecosystem that shaped Liev Schreiber’s Ray came to be.
Development progressed significantly under this premise. Scripts were written, the core creative direction was established, and the show was positioned as a natural extension of Ray Donovan’s narrative. Paramount+ saw clear value in revisiting a proven property, especially one with such a devoted fanbase and rich character history.
However, the turning point came when Guy Ritchie joined The Donovans as a director and executive producer. Known for his stylized crime storytelling, Ritchie brought a distinct creative vision that began to reshape the series. Rather than strictly adhering to Ray Donovan continuity, the show started evolving into something broader and more standalone.
The shift didn’t happen overnight. The reworking of The Donovans into MobLand occurred relatively deep into development, when foundational elements for the original story were already in place. Characters, themes, and narrative structures were retooled rather than discarded entirely, allowing the show that would eventually become MobLand to pivot away from its connection to Ray Donovan without starting from scratch.
Ultimately, Paramount+ made the decision to detach the series from Ray Donovan altogether. The result was a show that retained the spirit of Ray Donovan but removed direct narrative ties. This allowed greater creative freedom for the UK-set crime show, especially under Guy Ritchie’s direction, while avoiding the restrictions of adhering to established canon.
Even after its transformation, MobLand hasn’t completely shed its Ray Donovan origins. At its core, both series revolve around a fixer, a morally complex figure tasked with cleaning up the messes of powerful people. In MobLand, this is Tom Hardy’s Harry Da Souza, a character who it’s easy to see began conceptual life as a relative of Liev Schreiber’s Ray.
Thematically, the similarities between Ray Donovan and MobLand are just as apparent. Both thrive on a blend of brutal violence, family tension, and psychological depth. They explore loyalty, power, and the personal cost of crime. These shared themes create a familiar atmosphere for fans of Ray Donovan, even within a new narrative framework.
There are, of course, key differences. MobLand shifts the setting to the UK, giving it a distinctly British flavor that contrasts with the Los Angeles backdrop of Ray Donovan. The criminal underworld it portrays is structured differently, leaning more into organized crime families than Hollywood power brokers.
In the end, MobLand works both as a standalone crime drama and as a fascinating “what if” scenario for Ray Donovan fans. Its evolution may have severed official ties, but the DNA of Showtime’s hit series continues to pulse through it in ways that are hard to ignore.
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MobLand explores the intense conflict between two rival mob families whose escalating feud endangers both their criminal empires and the lives entangled in their violent world.