EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark, The Gilded Age) has been set as a series regular in MGM+ series The Westies, the upcoming period crime drama series from Chris Brancato, co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner.
Co-created by Brancato and Michael Panes, The Westies is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall for the Irish-American organized crime gang. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, The Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. However, internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.
Dukes will play Birdie Polk, the sharp and unflinching Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Gambino Task Force, determined to take down Irish and Italian organized crime.
She joins the previously announced cast of J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver.
Production on the eight-episode The Westies will begin in July in Toronto with casting by Seth Yanklewitz, CSA, and Ben Pollack.
Dukes is best known for her work in Netflix’s Ozark, playing Special Agent Maya Miller. She can currently be seen starring in the Project Greenlight feature on HBO Max, Gray Matter, and the original series, as well as in a supporting role in the Paramount feature, Organ Trail. She made her Broadway debut at the Roundabout in Trouble in Mind and on off-Broadway and regional stages nationwide.
She won an Audelco Award and was nominated for a Drama League Award for playing the title role in Lynn Nottage’s By The Way, Meet Vera Stark at Signature Theatre, and won an Obie for Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy at Playwrights Horizons. She recurred on Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix) and guested on CBS’ The Good Wife, NBC’s New Amsterdam, and NCIS: New Orleans. She is represented by Innovative Artists Entertainment and Shachter Entertainment.
