he third and final season of Top Boy lands in just three weeks, and now Netflix has given fans a glimpse of what’s coming with new first-look images and a trailer for the upcoming six-part show.
And it’s nail-biting stuff: criminal mastermind Dushane Hill (Ashley Walters) and his co-conspirator Gerard ‘Sully’ Sullivan (Kane ‘Kano’ Robinson) are back, and business is as tense as ever.
The duo, whose complicated friendship led to a rewriting of their business approach last season, have to quash continual challenges to their place as the leaders of the East London estate Summerhouse’s drug trade, while also navigating the labyrinth of unsteady relationships that make up their lives.
“Just know that we are f***ng linked,” says Sully to Dushane. “There’s no going back from this one,” says a voice over a scene where someone wearing a mask throws a molotov cocktail into a police car. Chanting crowds face off against one another, there’s bedlam on the estate; scenes of fighting are intercut with domestic or softer moments.
“As new shared problems arise, everything they’ve built comes under threat from forces outside and within their empire,” says the show’s logline.
Ashley Walters as Dushane in Top Boy
/ Courtesy of NetflixTop Boy looks at the tense and dangerous world of drug dealing on an estate in Hackney, exploring the relationship between the criminals, members of their community, residents of the estate and the police.
The first two seasons of Top Boy were broadcast on Channel 4 between 2011-2013, but despite becoming a bit of a cult favourite, the show wasn’t renewed for a third season. That was until 2017, when rapper Drake became interested in reviving the show. With the rapper backing the project, and lead cast members including Walters and Robinson agreeing to reprise their roles, it landed on Netflix in 2019.
The show’s reboot was seen as a brand new start and was named season one. Critics were on the whole fans of the revival: The Guardian said it was “more violent, more gripping, more shocking than ever”, The i called it as “compelling as ever”, and The Standard described its fourth season as “a gathering storm of fear and fury”.
For the show’s third and final chapter, Belfast-born Ronan Bennett, who has been with the award-winning series from the beginning, returns once again at the helm. Bennett’s previous credits include co-writing the screenplay for Michael Mann’s 2009 crime drama Public Enemies, and writing the 2017 BBC drama Gunpowder. Brian Eno has composed the show’s original score alongside composer and DJ Michael Asante.
Kane Robinson as Sully and Ashley Walters as Dushane in Top Boy
/ Courtesy of NetflixAs well as Walters and Robinson, the cast also includes Araloylin Oshunremi (Heartstopper), Saffron Hocking (London Kills, White Gold), Jasmine Jobson (Lie Low, Obey), and Joshua Blisset (Blue Story, Young Wallander), alongside Mercury Prize-winning artist Simbiatu Ajikawo, aka Little Simz, grime artist Natalie Athanasiou, aka NoLay. and model Adwoa Aboah (Willow).
Irish actors Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and Brian Gleeson (Bad Sisters, Peaky Blinders), both of whom starred in Martin McDonagh’s 2022 Oscar-nominated drama The Banshees of Inisherin, are also joining the cast for the final season.
The series has been directed by Myriam Raja (Azaar) and William Stefan Smith (On the Edge), and its executive producers include Drake, his business partner Adel ‘Future’ Nur, and basketball star LeBron James.
Top Boy is released on Netflix on September 7