Tom Hardy is doing the absolute most right now, and honestly, we are not complaining. While the internet has spent the last month debating whether the British actor still has a job on Paramount+’s hit crime drama MobLand, Hardy went ahead and announced something nobody had on their bingo card: a full-length rap album dropping August 28.
Under his rap persona Frankie Pulitzer, also known as Face Puller, Hardy is linking up with East Coast hip-hop supergroup Czarface for a collaborative project titled Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer, which already features Busta Rhymes, Method Man, and EL-O. The debut single “Brothers Grimm” is already out, and yes, it actually slaps.
The Man Has Been Building a Rap Career Right Under Our Noses
Here is the part that genuinely catches you off guard. This is not Hardy waking up one Tuesday morning and deciding to be a rapper. According to Rolling Stone, Hardy has been rapping under the Frankie Pulitzer name going back to 2021, when he first appeared on Czarface’s Good Guys, Bad Guys EP.
He also previously teamed up with Method Man on the Czarface track “Knull & Void,” and some of those collaborations actually showed up on the Venom: Let There Be Carnage soundtrack, meaning millions of people heard his bars without fully realizing it.
If you go even further back, an unreleased 1999 mixtape Hardy recorded under the name Tommy No. 1 was eventually unearthed in 2018, which means the man has been sitting on rap ambitions for over two decades. The full album with Czarface is the next and biggest move in that quiet but steady musical side hustle.
Czarface is not exactly a casual pickup group either. The trio consists of Inspectah Deck of Wu-Tang Clan fame, along with producers and lyricists 7L and Esoteric, and has a history of high-profile collaborative albums, including two full-length projects with the late MF Doom, one with Ghostface Killah, and a record with Kool Keith.
That is a deep catalog of credibility, and Hardy is stepping into a lineup that does not play around. On “Brothers Grimm,” Inspectah Deck and Esoteric lay down their verses first before Hardy comes in with lines like “You coppin’ lead when I’m dropping it,” over a vintage nineties East Coast beat.
Rolling Stone noted the track “goes pretty hard.” And if you ask me, that is high praise delivered with appropriate reluctance.
The MobLand Situation Is Messier Than a Crime Family Dinner
Now, about that other thing going on in Tom Hardy’s life. Last month, Puck News dropped a report claiming Hardy had been let go from MobLand ahead of a potential third season. The allegations were pointed: Puck reported that Hardy was regularly late to set, constantly pushed for the script to be rewritten , and had grown frustrated that the show was evolving into more of an ensemble story rather than staying centered on his character.
Then, The Hollywood Reporter piled on. A source told THR that Hardy refused to come out of his trailer for hours at a time during Season 2 production, leaving co-stars Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren waiting. Another insider reportedly described the move as “career suicide.” That is a lot of tension on a set that was supposed to be one of television’s most glamorous.
To be fair to Hardy, Variety later reported that the tensions were real, but Hardy was not officially fired, and that the three parties involved are currently working to resolve their creative differences. One production source confirmed to Variety that “things are being worked through creatively” and that the door is not closed for Season 3.
Part of the issue, according to Variety’s sources, is that showrunner Jez Butterworth is stretched thin across multiple major projects, making it harder to address Hardy’s occasional script requests in real time.
When Butterworth was unavailable, and episodes were being helmed by rotating directors who lacked his authority, conflicts with Hardy reportedly became harder to manage. Guy Ritchie, who directed several episodes and has worked with Hardy since 2008’s RocknRolla, is said to be someone Hardy responds well to, and sources told Variety that Ritchie may be part of the push to bring Hardy back.
Helen Mirren Has Entered the Chat with Full Support
While all of this was playing out, Helen Mirren stepped in and said what she had to say. In a recent interview, the Oscar winner pushed back directly against speculation about any bad blood between her and Hardy.
“I love Tom, I think he’s the most amazing actor,” she stated, per Entertainment Weekly. “Different actors have different processes. I’ve learnt over the years that some people get to things faster. As long as what’s on the screen is fantastic, I’m totally chilled with however someone gets there. Tom is a very special person. I think he’s absolutely remarkable. My support of him is genuine and heartfelt.”
That is a full-throated endorsement from someone who, according to multiple reports, spent chunks of Season 2 sitting in a trailer waiting for him. Dame Helen chose grace, and that says something.
MobLand pulled over 26 million views in its first season, making it a genuine hit for Paramount+, so there is serious motivation on all sides to figure this out.
Whether Hardy ends up back on set as Harry Da Souza or pivoting full-time to Frankie Pulitzer, one thing is clear: Tom Hardy in 2026 is not playing by anyone’s rules but his own, and somehow, that is working out just fine.
