First Look: Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols limited series ‘Pistol’ for FX

Thomas-Brodie Sangster and Talulah Riley join the cast as Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood

Principal photography has begun in London on Pistol, the six-episode FX limited series about the legendary Sex Pistol guitarist Steve Jones, based on his memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. Pistol is executive produced and directed by Danny Boyle, created by Craig Pearce and written by Pearce and Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Slated to air in 2022 on FX on Hulu, the series will faithfully capture the story of the Sex Pistols, the British-born, anti-establishment musical icons.

Joining the previously announced cast are Thomas-Brodie Sangster (The Queen’s Gambit, Game of Thrones) as Malcolm McLaren and Talulah Riley (Westworld) as Vivienne Westwood. Christian Lees (Sun Records) also joins the cast as Glen Matlock and Iris Law makes her screen debut as Soo Catwoman.

The series stars Toby Wallace (Babyteeth, Acute Misfortune) as Steve Jones, Anson Boon (Crawl, 1917, Blackbird) as John Lydon, Louis Partridge (Enola Homes, Medici) as Sid Vicious and Jacob Slater as Paul Cook. 

Additional cast includes Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as punk icon Jordan, Dylan Llewellyn (Derry Girls) as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler (Don’t Worry Darling) as Chrissie Hynde, Emma Appleton (The Witcher, Traitors) as Nancy Spungen.

Anchored by Jones’ memoir, which offers a fascinating new perspective on one of rock’s greatest ever stories, Pistol moves from West London’s council estates, to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s notorious Kings Road SEX shop, to the international controversy that came with the release of Never Mind the Bollocks, which is frequently listed as one of the most influential albums of all time. Their single “God Save the Queen” was banned by the BBC and reached Number 1 on the UK’s NME chart, but appeared at Number 2 on the Official UK Singles chart, leading to accusations that the song was purposely kept off the top spot. For the only time in chart history, the track was listed as a blank, to avoid offence to the monarchy.

Steve Jones, Danny Boyle and Craig Pearce serve as Executive Producers alongside Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Tracey Seaward, Paul Lee, Hope Hartman and wiip. The series is produced by FX Productions.

Photo credit: Miya Mizuno/FX

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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