March 10, 2025
Provided image/Apple TV+
'Atlanta' star Brian Tyree Henry plays Philadelphia hustler Ray in the AppleTV+ series 'Dope Thief.' The actor lived in the city for months, even as production paused during the writers' and actors' strikes of 2023.
The lead characters of "Dope Thief" spend much of the AppleTV+ series on the run — from federal agents, their own personal demons and the criminals who have promised to murder their families. This isn't foreign territory for either actor playing them; Wagner Moura rose to fame as the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar on "Narcos," while Brian Tyree Henry has flirted with the criminal underworld in "Atlanta" and "Widows."
Still, it's a lot of stress to carry. So to decompress in between takes, the actors took advantage of their setting.
"Dope Thief," like the Dennis Tafoya book that inspired it, is set in Philadelphia. So while the show filmed in the area in 2023, the pair relaxed by visiting Philly museums and driving out to Bucks County.
"I was the mayor of New Hope, actually," Henry said. "They've got really cool vintage shops, man, some good food. The best candles! If you want candles, New Hope is where to go."
A trip to the ice cream shop Moo Hope made Moura a convert, too.
"I have a picture of when I took (him)," Henry said. "I've never seen a man shine like that. He's just beaming ear to ear."
The characters in "Dope Thief," premiering Friday, could use a scoop or two of moose tracks. Henry and Moura play Ray and Manny, friends who met as young men in jail and have since developed a grift. Donning fake badges and jackets, they pose as Drug Enforcement Administration agents and shake small-time drug dealers down for their stash and cash. It's all going well until someone tips them off to a potential score in Ottsville. There, the con unravels. Shots are fired, a fire sparks and pretty soon, the whole place is up in smoke. As Manny and Ray flee the scene, a sinister voice crackles onto their walkie-talkie promising revenge.
All that happens in the series' first episode, setting the characters up for a long-term game of cat and mouse. It's not just the mysterious man on the radio who's after them. Ray and Manny have also unwittingly stumbled upon an undercover operation led by actual feds, played by Marin Ireland and Amir Arison.
While the story naturally lends itself to drama and cliffhangers, "Dope Thief" is a surprisingly funny show. Ray and Manny's panic often takes on a cartoonish quality, especially when their loved ones are thrown into the mix. Ray spends several episodes herding his stepmom (Kate Mulgrew) out of her house and begrudgingly caring for her tiny dog Shermie. Manny's girlfriend Sherry (Liz Caribel), meanwhile, inspires one of the series' most memorable sequences. In the third episode, Ray helps Manny slap together a romantic gesture. A beat later, Ray steps outside and finds a box containing a severed head.
"Some of the best humor comes out of the darkness, right?" Henry said. "Sometimes, you have to find a way to find the humor in it. ... What I love the most about Manny and Ray is they have so many private moments so public. Like they don't even care where these situations are popping off. But that also makes sense. They were incarcerated. When you're in jail, there's no such thing as privacy."
Religion also plays a significant role in the show. The pair briefly ventures into Amish country seeking the graves of two people killed in the fallout from their scheme. Ray, a skeptic, attends a Quaker meeting with his lawyer. And Manny persistently seeks answers and absolution through the Catholic Church.
"Manny spends the entire series desperately trying to get away," Moura said. "Religion is one thing that he tries. Drugs are another. ... He's a man who's constantly trying a way out. It's a very tragic character. Being Latino, (Catholicism) is a very strong thing where you have the constant guilt and blame and shame. Growing up with that doesn't help."
'Narcos' and 'Civil War' actor Wagner Moura plays Manny in 'Dope Thief,' the AppleTV+ series based on Dennis Tafoya's book of the same name.
"Dope Thief," which was also shot in Ontario, filmed in the Philadelphia region before and after the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes in 2023. Henry was so enamored with the area that he didn't leave even as production paused for six months. Though the actor had spent time in Philadelphia years ago while visiting his friends at Temple University, his extended stay led to a "huge appreciation" for the city, which "felt like home immediately."
"I'm in awe of that city," Henry said. "It was so loving and so caring and so giving to us.
"I really wanted to make this a love letter to Philly because there's something about the streets of Philly. I mean, yes, it is the birthplace of this nation and, you know, the City of Brotherly Love. But the natives of Philly ... it's the most pride and the most care and the realest people I've ever met in my life. So to be able to play Ray, who is a native of Philly, it was a huge honor."
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