FX has announced a new limited series set to examine the rise and fall of Sex Pistols through the lens of guitarist Steve Jones. Dubbed Pistol, the cable network series will be led by acclaimed director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) and is set to begin filming on March 7th, though no release date has been revealed.
Based on Jones’ 2018 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, the series is also set to host a star-studded cast. Toby Wallace (The Society, Babyteeth) is set to star as Jones, with Anson Boon (1917) as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge (Enola Homes, Paddington 2) as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, and Fabien Frankel as Glen Matlock.
The series’ recreation of the wider world of the burgeoning 1970s punk scene will also see Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) portray model Jordan—aka Pamela Rooke—who worked at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood‘s Sex boutique in London, Emma Appleton (The Witcher) as Nancy Spungen, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, and Dylan Llewellyn (Derry Girls) as early Sex Pistols guitarist Wally Nightingale.
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According to a statement, the six-part series “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.”
Pistol will see Boyle work alongside writers Craig Pearce (The Great Gatsby) and Frank Cottrell-Boyce (24 Hour Party People), the former of whom also created the program. Boyle will serve as director and executive producer, and has described the band’s breakthrough 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,” Boyle said in a statement. “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. The Sex Pistols. 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.”
Stay tuned for more news on the Sex Pistols biopic series, Pistol, from FX.
[H/T NME]