Tokyo Vice Live-Action Series Gets Premiere Date

The staff for the live-action adaptation of American reporter Jake Adelstein’s Tokyo Vice book revealed that the series will premiere on HBO Max on April 7 with three episodes. After pausing production in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, the new crime drama series now finally has a release date.

The streaming service will then add two new episodes every Thursday until the series finale streams on April 28. The show will also premiere on Japan’s WOWOW service on April 24.

ABOUT

The eight-episode series by award-winning playwright J.T. Rogers is loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction, first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat.

Adelstein wrote about crime and the yakuza for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Adelstein became entangled with the yakuza because of his work and specifically with yakuza boss Tadamasa Goto, and wrote about his experiences in Tokyo Vice.

Filmed on location in Tokyo, the crime drama series captures Adelstein’s (Baby Driver‘s Ansel Elgort) daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo in the late ‘90s, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem.

CAST

Among the cast, Ansel Elgort plays the protagonist and reporter, Jake. Ken Watanabe plays experienced cop, Katagiri. Rinko Kikuchi plays Jake’s senior reporter, Eimi Maruyama. Hideaki Ito plays corrupt cop, Miyamoto. Show Kasamatsu plays Chihara-kai yakuza group member, Satō. Tomohisa Yamashita plays charismatic host, Akira.

Other cast members include Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Shun Sugata, Ayumi Tanida, Masato Hagiwara, Kōsuke Toyohara, Ayumi Itō, Makiko Watanabe, Yuka Itaya, and Miyuki Matsuda.

The project was initially planned as a film, with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) initially starring as Adelstein. The project is now a television series, with Michael Mann directing. J.T. Rogers is credited as creator and writer. WOWOW is co-producing the series.

Are you intrigued?