The teaser trailer for Danny Boyle’s drama series about the Sex Pistols has arrived, offering a first look at the punk band’s anarchic rise amid the emerging British punk scene of the mid-1970s.
In case you’re somehow unfamiliar, the Sex Pistols achieved global notoriety with their seminal – and single – album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols in 1977, partly thanks to the backing of Vivienne Westwood and manager Malcolm McLaren.
“It is the detonation point for British street culture where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion,” the Trainspotting creator told the Guardian following the announcement of the six-part series, titled Pistol, last year. “Everyone had to watch and listen and everyone feared them or followed them.”
In the preview, vocalist Johnny Rotten (played by Anson Boon) and bassist Sid Vicious (Louis Partridge) scheme about the downfall of the British establishment, illustrated with archival news footage of the monarchy and police brutality. Westwood also makes an appearance, played by Talulah Riley, alongside Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcolm McLaren, Christian Lees as Glen Matlock, and Maisie Williams as the late punk icon Jordan.
The show itself is based on Lonely Boy, the 2017 memoir of the group’s guitarist Steve Jones (portrayed in the show by Toby Wallace). The adaptation was co-written by creator Craig Pearce and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce, with Boyle in the director’s chair.
Last year, John Lydon (AKA Johnny Rotten) pushed back against the development of the series, with his former bandmates taking him to court for the rights to use Sex Pistols music in Pistol. After losing the court case, Lydon published a statement on his website, citing fears that the decision could “water down and distort the true history and legacy” of the band.
The FX series is set to air via Hulu on May 31. Watch the new trailer below.
