MobLand Has Just Introduced Guy Ritchie's Best Villain

Published Sep 18, 2026, 2:15 PM EDT

MobLand’s season 2 premiere has arrived on Paramount+ today, reacquainting us with Tom Hardy’s mob fixer Harry De Souza, as well as the crime family that employs his services. But in addition to Harry and the Harrigans, this second season is introducing multiple new characters into the story.

Most notably, it marks the arrival of an antagonist with the potential to wreak havoc on the series. In fact, they could well become one of the best gangster villains in TV crime history.

Even before today’s release, we already knew from the glimpses of MobLand’s second season revealed in teaser trailers and first-look images that cast newcomer Johnny Flynn has done something special with his latest role. Now, the season’s first episode has only augmented the aura around Flynn’s enigmatic villain.

While most of the episode’s focus is on the Harrigans, as well as changes to Tom Hardy’s MobLand protagonist Harry, their new adversary still manages to steal the show with a brief but menacing cameo in its final moments. Frankie Cooper might only be onscreen for a few seconds, but Flynn certainly makes them count.

MobLand’s Season 2 Premiere Ends By Introducing Johnny Flynn’s New Villain

During the premiere of MobLand season 2, former DCI Colin Tattersall (Toby Jones) promises Janet McTeer’s American cartel boss Kat McAllister “a paladin, a brave knight to ride into battle” and help her take down the Harrigan crime family. Tattersall describes the person he’s thinking of as "an upcoming criminal as smart, ruthless, cunning, and violent" as McAllister’s mafia ancestors.

That paladin turns out to be none other than Johnny Flynn’s Frankie Cooper, who’s been known solely as “Beast” in MobLand’s promotional briefings for season 2. Immediately after Harry De Souza carries out yet another merciless execution on Conrad Harrigan’s orders, the episode ends with something even more unsettling.

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Tattersall is shown into the back garden of a house, where we first lay eyes on Johnny Flynn, dressed in a flower-patterned Hawaiian shirt with a mod haircut. He’s chopping up meat with a cleaver before setting it on fire, a metaphor that needs no elaboration. “Hello, Frankie,” Tattersall says.

Frankie flicks a side-eyed glare at his house guest, telling him simply in a dry, nasal cockney accent characteristic of the best movies of Guy Ritchie’s career, “Start talking, copper.” We don’t need any more than this short scene to understand that Frankie “Beast” Cooper is going to be the most formidable adversary that Harry Da Souza has ever faced.

This less-is-more approach to introducing the main villain of MobLand season 2 is more effective than all the acts of brutality Harry and the Harrigans can muster. It tantalizes us, leaving gaps for our imagination to fill in about this highly unusual antagonist.

Frankie Cooper Is Shaping Up To The Best Villain In Any Guy Ritchie Release

Even from what little we’ve seen of Frankie Cooper so far, there’s something outwardly eccentric about him, as is the case with so many of the most memorable villains in movie and TV history. Meanwhile, his apparent disregard for small talk, and expert handling of a butcher’s knife, reveal much of what we need to know about him as a gangster.

Frankie’s introduction perfectly matches the picture that Colin Tattersall painted of the “upcoming criminal” of many talents he’d find McAllister. His outward appearance clashes with his no-nonsense demeanor, suggesting an unpredictable mix of flamboyant swagger and ruthless intensity.

Many of Guy Ritchie’s best movie characters are villains, from mob enforcer Big Chris in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, to Alan Ford’s Brick Top in Snatch. It looks as though Frankie Cooper would fit in with them, and might just top the lot.

Ritchie’s classic big-screen villains are more straightforward British gangster archetypes, whereas there’s something uniquely unnerving about Johnny Flynn’s MobLand character. Harry Da Souza has his work cut out trying to get the best of him.