Johnny Flynn says the MobLand cast gave him a role built on strangeness and control, and Frankie is the part that now carries that weight. He said Jez Butterworth called and asked if he had seen the show, then drew him into a second-season discussion around a character he called “strange and mercurial.”
Jez Butterworth called first
“Jez called me up and said, ‘Have you seen MobLand?’” Flynn said, adding, “I didn’t know anything about it, so I watched it and realised it’s a masterpiece.” He also called it “the most entertaining TV I’ve ever seen” and said, “The writing is incredible, like something from Homer.”
MobLand’s first series was watched by 26 million viewers around the world, which explains why a new cast addition in Frankie has become a talking point rather than a quiet credit. Flynn said he wanted “the energy of Michael Caine in Get Carter” for the part, and he described Frankie as “He is strange and mercurial,” “He’s lugubrious,” and “Like a fat cat.”
Frankie’s body, Frankie’s tempo
Flynn said Frankie carries several extra pounds beneath his velour track suit, so he changed his own routine before filming. He stopped playing tennis and started having an extra sandwich to bulk up, then said he adopted Frankie-like energy in the weeks before shooting. That is the practical part of the job here: he was building a physical rhythm, not just learning lines.
He also said one scene has Frankie examining the bare feet of Colin Tattersall, played by Toby Jones, and called their scenes “sexually ambiguous and wonderfully eerie.” That turns the role into more than a gangster flourish; it places Frankie in the middle of a specific tonal register that MobLand is already using to separate itself from cleaner crime dramas.
Fame, fear, and Frankie
Flynn’s own instincts run against the visibility the role can bring. He said, “I’ve turned roles down because I thought there was a risk that they would turn me into a star,” and added, “If I have to go on chat shows, I get terrible panic attacks.” He also said he rarely goes on a red carpet because he does not want people to see him in a way that limits their imagination.
That is the contradiction at the center of this casting: he avoids publicity, yet he is playing a visibly theatrical gangster in a series already watched by 26 million people. The upside for MobLand is clear — Jez Butterworth gets a committed performer with a strong visual instinct — and the open question is how much larger Frankie’s role will become as season two unfolds.
