The first images of FX’s six-episode limited series on the life and rise of the Sex Pistols, titled Pistols have been released.
Based on guitarist Steve Jones’ 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol, the images from the series highlight how the actors bear an uncanny resemblance to their real-life counterparts.
The series boasts an array of talent with Maisie Williams playing punk icon and model Jordan (real name Pamela Rooke) Talulah Riley playing the role of fashion designer, and legend Vivienne Westwood and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as the band’s manager Malcolm McLaren.
The cast of ‘Pistol’ (Picture: Miya Mizuno/FX)
The band themselves will be portrayed by Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, Anson Boon as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge in the role of Sid Vicious, and Jacob Slater portraying the band’s drummer Paul Cook.
Slated to air in 2022 on FX on Hulu, the Danny Boyle-directed series will faithfully capture the story of the Sex Pistols, the British-born, anti-establishment musical icons.
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.
The series marks the latest collaboration between Boyle and FX after he directed the first three episodes of the FX series Trust, a biopic about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III.
Discussing the series, Boyle described the Sex Pistols’ rise as “the moment that British society and culture changed forever.”
“Imagine breaking into the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent, this is the moment that British society and culture changed forever. It is the detonation point for British street culture… where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion… and everyone had to watch and listen…and everyone feared them or followed them.
At its center was a young charming illiterate kleptomaniac – a hero for the times – Steve Jones, who became in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there,” Boyle added.
Filming for Pistols will begin March 7 and the series is expected to debut in 2022.
Listen to the best of the Sex Pistols here.