MobLand Season 2’s New Tom Hardy Rival Looks Terrifying

Guy Ritchie’s MobLand is officially back for a second season on September 18. With all the conjecture about Tom Hardy’s future on the snow behind us, we can look forward to another 10 episodes of pulsating crime thrills. In addition to Hardy’s return, a new cast member is set to steal every scene he’s in of MobLand season 2.

While he only features briefly in the show’s first trailer for this follow-up season, he’s already sent chills down the spines of millions of viewers. MobLand’s initial season 2 teaser gives us an all-too-short introduction to Johnny Flynn’s Beast, but enough to understand that this is a villain unlike any other we’ve seen in the series so far.

Most famous for starring as David Bowie in the 2020 biopic Stardust, Flynn also has some experience playing gangster roles, although quite on the scale of this Guy Ritchie TV show. He’s one of the two most prominent newcomers to MobLand’s cast for its second season, alongside Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy star Ophelia Lovibond.

While we should expect Lovibond to feature extensively in the season, it’s Flynn who leaves the bigger impression in its first teaser trailer. He appears to be playing the kind of character who strikes fear into anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. Harry Da Souza has got his hands full trying to tame the Beast.

Johnny Flynn’s Beast Is The New Rival To Harry Da Souza In MobLand Season 2

Tom Hardy’s central antihero seems to have plenty of problems to contend with in MobLand season 2, judging by its trailer, but surely the biggest will be his new rival for hardest character in the show. Known simply by the mononym “Beast”, Johnny Flynn’s incoming villain looks utterly terrifying.

We first see him just over halfway through the trailer, sporting a mod haircut and a wool-lined hooded jacket. He gives a menacing wink to someone off-camera. Half a second later, we watch him smash someone’s face in with a metal canister, before a building explodes to the sound of The Prodigy’s unsettling rave classic “Firestarter”.

It appears to be Beast, too, who walks towards a burning car in the shot that follows, and it could well be him splattering blood on a wall from the blade of a chainsaw. We’re given every reason to think that this is the most dangerous person Harry Da Souza and the Harrigan family will ever meet.

In a major upgrade on season 1’s villains, Guy Ritchie and screenwriters Ronan Bennett and Jez Butterworth have managed to create a character even the show’s other gangsters should be genuinely afraid of. The few seconds of Johnny Flynn in the trailer confirm beyond doubt that MobLand season 2’s cast is even better that what’s come before it.

Beast Already Looks Like One Of Guy Ritchie’s Best Villains

Johnny Flynn as Beast eating toast in MobLand season 2

As well as stealing the show in MobLand, Flynn’s Beast looks worthy of comparison with Guy Ritchie’s best movie villains. In fact, he has age on his side compared to the likes of Harry “Hatchet” Lonsdale, Lenny Cole, and Brick Top, whose intimidating screen personas make the director’s greatest gangster thrillers what they are.

Even Ray Liotta’s Dorothy Macha from Revolver and Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows would struggle to face down someone as seemingly unhinged as Beast. The final glimpse we get of Johnny Flynn’s character in the MobLand season 2 trailer tells us exactly how deranged a villain he is.

We see him driving a getaway car one-handed after a break-in by riot police, as blood pours down his forehead. With his right hand, he’s calmly stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth, while still wearing his nightgown. Beast has absolutely no concern for appearances, and is seemingly at ease in situations of extreme peril.

These qualities make him far deadlier than your average gangster. He’s MobLand’s wildcard, and the show’s writers are playing it at the perfect time. If Tom Hardy were still leaving before season 3, Guy Ritchie would likely have already found his replacement in Johnny Flynn.