The series starring Ken Watanabe and Ansel Elgort hails from creator and writer J.T. Rogers. The series pilot was directed by Michael Mann.
The second official series order from HBO Max in 2019, Tokyo Vice is loosely inspired by American journalist Jake Adelstein’s nonfiction firsthand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat. The crime drama, filmed on location in Tokyo, captures Adelstein’s (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. The series will premiere with three episodes on Thursday, April 7, followed by two episodes airing every Thursday until the season finale on April 28.
Watanabe (picture above) will play Hiroto Katagiri, a detective in the organized crime division of the Tokyo Police Department who is also a father-figure to Jake throughout the series as he helps guide him along the thin and often precarious line between the cops and the world of organized crime. The series also features Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Rinko Kikuchi, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu, Tomohisa Yamashita, Shun Sugata, Masato Hagiwara, Ayumi Tanida and Kosuke Toyohara.
Rogers executive produces the series along with Michael Mann. Additional EPs are Adelstein, Elgort, Watanabe, Alan Poul, Emily Gerson Saines, Brad Kane, Destin Daniel Cretton, Kayo Washio and John Lesher.