Ridley Scott’s next television project has a big con go wrong as fake DEA agents end up stealing drug money from the wrong people.
Apple TV+ today unveiled the trailer for Dope Thief, its new, eight-episode crime drama executive produced by Academy Award-nominee Ridley Scott, who also directs the first episode, created and executive produced by Academy Award-nominee Peter Craig, and starring Academy, Emmy and Tony Award-nominee Brian Tyree Henry, who also serves as executive producer. Dope Thief makes its global debut on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on Friday, March 14, 2025 followed by new episodes every Friday through April 25.
Based on Dennis Tafoya’s book of the same name, the series follows long-time Philly friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard.
The ensemble cast starring alongside Henry includes Wagner Moura, Marin Ireland, Kate Mulgrew, Nesta Cooper, Amir Arison, Dustin Nguyen, and Golden Globe-winner Ving Rhames.
Dope Thief hails from Apple Studios, and is a Scott Free Production. The series is executive produced by Craig alongside Scott, as well as David W. Zucker, Richard Heus, Henry, Jordan Sheehan, Clayton Krueger and Jennifer Wiley-Moxley. Scott Free Productions is producing under the studio’s first-look TV deal with Apple. In addition to setting up Dope Thief, Scott is partnered with Apple for Napoleon, his epic period drama starring Joaquin Phoenix as the controversial French political figure Napoleon Bonaparte.
The official synopsis of Tafoya’s book, per Amazon, reads,
“Ray and his best friend, Manny, close ever since they met in juvie almost twenty years ago, have a great scam going: With a couple of fake badges and some DEA windbreakers they found at a secondhand store, they pose as federal agents and rip off small-time drug dealers, taking their money and drugs and disappearing before anyone is the wiser. It’s the perfect sting: the dealers they target are too small to look for revenge and too guilty to call the police, nobody has to die, nobody innocent gets hurt, and Ray and Manny score plenty.
But it can’t last forever. Eventually, they choose the wrong mark and walk out with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a heavy hitter, who is more than willing to kill to get his money back, is coming after them. Now Ray couldn’t care less about the score. He wants out—out of the scam, out of a life he feels like he never chose. Whether the victim of his latest job—not to mention his partner—will let him is another question entirely.“
