Episode 01MobLand, season 2

Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy is back in MobLand season 2, out on Paramount+ since 18 September 2026, as the fixer. Harry Da Souza works for the Harrigans, an Irish mafia family in London: he has to protect them from their enemies and protect their business. Since it came out, it has been one of the most successful series around. But here I am not talking about the series: I am talking about Tom Hardy and the roles he has played.

See the 5 takes

MobLand, season 2

Born: 15 September 1977
In: Hammersmith, London
First role: Band of Brothers (2001)
BAFTA: Rising Star 2011
Oscars: Nominated, Best Supporting Actor (The Revenant)

Who is Tom Hardy?

Tom Hardy was born in London in 1977. He went through the Drama Centre London, then landed his first role in 2001 in the series Band of Brothers, the same year as Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. For almost ten years he went from supporting parts to British television without the wider public remembering his name.

Everything changed with Bronson in 2008. He completely rebuilt his body to play the most violent prisoner in England, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s film made his name. Then came Inception, Warrior and The Dark Knight Rises: Hollywood understood he could play anything.

What strikes me about him is how often he acts with part of himself taken away. Bane behind his mask, Max in a muzzle, Ivan Locke alone at the wheel with a phone: you see almost nothing, and still you only watch him. He also produces his own projects, like the series Taboo, which he created with his father and Steven Knight.

The 5 takes

Five roles to understand Tom Hardy, in the order of the reel.

Film · 2011
Take 1 : Warrior
Role
Tommy Conlon
Directed by
Gavin O’Connor
We start in 2011, the year he won the BAFTA Rising Star award and Warrior came out. He plays Tommy, a former Marine who gets into MMA and runs into his brother, who he is not speaking to, in the same competition. You expect a fight film, and you end up wanting just one thing: both brothers to win, in a tournament that only allows one winner.
Film · 2013
Take 2 : Locke
Role
Ivan Locke
Directed by
Steven Knight
In Warrior, he holds you with the fights. In Locke, he holds you because the whole film rests on him: it takes place entirely in a car, on the motorway. He plays Ivan, a man trying to keep the balance between his marriage and his job, and we are in the car with him. His only enemies are the consequences of the decisions he makes.
Series · 2014–2022
Take 3 : Peaky Blinders
Role
Alfie Solomons
Created by
Steven Knight
The director of Locke, Steven Knight, is also the creator of Peaky Blinders. He gives Hardy the role of Alfie Solomons, a gang boss who runs a liquor smuggling business, sometimes Tommy Shelby’s strategic ally, sometimes his enemy.
Film · 2015
Take 4 : Mad Max: Fury Road
Role
Max Rockatansky
Directed by
George Miller
In 2015 he plays Max, a former cop who has lost his whole family and is trying to escape Immortan Joe’s men. We see another face and another way of acting: everything goes through looks and decisions, not necessarily through dialogue.
Film · 2015
Take 5 : The Revenant
Role
John Fitzgerald
Directed by
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
The same year he becomes John Fitzgerald, a trapper with zero mercy, in a film that mixes survival, cold, snow and revenge. This is the role that earned him his nomination for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2016.