- The first two episodes of Dope Thief air on March 14, 2025
- The series focuses on criminal pals from Philly who pose as DEA agents
- Academy Award-winning director Ridley Scott is an executive producer
As a 39-year-old dude with bad knees, I probably shouldn’t be using the following word, but screw it: Dope Thief looks… well, positively dope. The new Apple TV+ crime drama has just been revealed, and despite appearing to rock first class production values and superb cinematography in its debut trailer, that’s not the headline news.
No, the real limelight-grabber is the fact legendary filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott is not only producing the Dope Thief – due to air on March 14 – but the 87-year-old is also directing its first episode. There’s just no slowing down the old boy, is there? After all, this is the mythic Hollywood great behind Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator, who not so long ago managed to film Gladiator 2 in a frankly absurd 51 days.
Based on Dennis Tafoya’s book, the eight-episode series tells the tale of two criminal chums, played by Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura. What seemingly separates Dope Thief from your standard drama about crooks? These Philly pals aren’t just content to get into firefights and blow shizzle up, they also occasionally pose as DEA agents in order to rip off drug dealers.
Of course, as with many movies and shows involving that one seemingly perfect heist / burglary, which simply can’t go wrong, Henry and Moura’s felons eventually mess up royally. Lured into fleecing an unknown home in the countryside, their robbery quickly goes belly up when they discover they’ve accidentally stumbled upon “the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern Seaboard”, according to Apple. As a certain cowardly cartoon doggo would say, “ruh-roh”.
Dope-a-dope
As you can see above, Apple has clearly thrown a whole heap of cash into making Dope Thief one of the best Apple TV+ shows (what a shocker). That trailer is so darkly lit in places, I briefly thought I was watching a David Fincher flick, yet the cinematography should still shine thanks to the involvement of Sir Ridley’s production company, Scott Free.
Dope Thief also has other serious heavyweight talent behind the camera. Apple’s latest big budget drama is created and written by Academy Award Nominee, Peter Craig. The man who’s probably best known for writing Ben Affleck’s masterful 2010 heist caper The Town. Oh, and you’ve not watched The Town, please, please do. It’s a brutal Boston beaut about increasingly risky robberies set in the Charlestown area of Beantown.
The Big A is no doubt hoping Dope Thief is going to go down as one of the best Apple TV Plus shows. With the trailer seemingly blurring the lines between cops and crims, it’s easy to see comparisons to The Wire.
Not that I’m banking on David Simon’s masterful Baltimore drama being outgunned by Dope Thief. After all, The Wire is arguably the best TV show of all time. It’s not just content to focus on cops busting drug corners, over the course of its five seasons, it tackles everything from the death of dockyards, broken school systems, corrupt mayoral races and a certain modern day Robin Hood with a big ol’ shotgun who just loves stealing from dealers. Omar Little, you’re the best.
Once Dope Thief makes its global debut on March 14, you’ll be able to catch new episodes of this potentially breakout drama on Apple TV+ every Friday until it finishes on April 25. If it’s even a third as good as The Wire, we’re all in for quite the treat.
