HBO Home Entertainment has dated and revealed several details about the Blu-ray release of
Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fourth Season, which stars Steve Buscemi, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Shannon, Gretchen Mol, Jack Huston, Shea Whigham, Kelly Macdonald and Jeffrey Wright. The series' fifth season will be its last.
The Complete Fourth Season arrives on Blu-ray on August 19th, and Amazon is already accepting pre-orders.
Synopsis:
Boardwalk Empire chronicles the life and times of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Golden Globe winner Steve Buscemi), Atlantic City's undisputed czar at a time when Prohibition proved to be a major catalyst in the rise of organized crime in America. Season 4 picks up eight months after the end of Season 3, in February 1924; the year jazz "really came into being," with fictional dancers/singers as well as the ubiquitous Charleston dance. Having barely survived an overthrow by Gyp Rossetti last season, Nucky Thompson is laying low at the end of the Boardwalk as this season begins. Eventually he butts heads with Mayor Bader, battles with his brother Eli about the fate of Eli's college-aged son Willie, and sets his sights on lucrative drug and real-estate opportunities in Florida. Most of the drama in this season's twelve episodes takes place in Atlantic City, and musical showpieces will be set in the Onyx Club (modeled after the Cotton Club), run by Chalky White, but events also take place in Florida and Chicago.
Boardwalk Empire Stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson; Kelly Macdonald as Margaret, Nucky's estranged wife; Michael Shannon as former Federal Agent Nelson Van Alden, caught up in gangland conflicts; Shea Whigham as Nucky's brother Elias, whose attempt to steer his son clear of Nucky's influence sparks fraternal tensions; Jack Huston as disfigured war veteran Richard Harrow, who is searching for a new purpose in life; Stephen Graham as gangster Al Capone; Michael Stuhlbarg as gangster Arnold Rothstein, who's newly wary of Nucky; Vincent Piazza as gangster Lucky Luciano; Paul Sparks as Mickey Doyle, head of Nucky's bootlegging operation; Michael Kenneth Williams as Nucky's ally Chalky White, leader of the city's African-American community; Gretchen Mol as Gillian, battling demons from her past as she seeks custody of her grandson; and Anthony Laciura as Eddie Kessler, Nucky's longtime valet. New cast members in season four include Jeffrey Wright as Valentin Narcisse, a violent Harlem power broker who tries to muscle in on Chalky's action; Ron Livingston as Roy Phillips, a business and romantic prospect of Gillian's; Patricia Arquette as Sally Wheet, a Florida speakeasy owner; Brian Geraghty as Federal Agent Warren Knox; and Domenick Lombardozzi and Morgan Spector as Al Capone's brothers, Ralph and Frank.
The 5-disc Blu-ray release of
Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fourth Season is presented in 1080p with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround. Special features (though subject to change at this point) are set to include:
- Audio Commentaries - Six commentaries with the cast and crew including creator Terence Winter, Steve Buscemi, Michael Kenneth Williams, Gretchen Mol and more.
- Boardwalk Chronicle (BD Exclusive) - An interactive, in-feature guide which offers character and location info as well as historical facts that are woven into each episode.
- Scouting the Boardwalk (BD Exclusive) - Learn how the locations manager of Boardwalk Empire finds the unique buildings and neighborhoods that bring the 1920s to life in each episode.
- PaleyFest: Made in NY Boardwalk Empire Panel (BD Exclusive) - A Q&A with creator/executive producer/writer Terence Winter, executive producer/writer Howard Korder and cast members of Boardwalk Empire after a screening of episode five, "Erlkönig" - courtesy of The Paley Center for Media.
- The Onyx Club: A Step Back In Time - An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creation of, and historical inspiration for, the massive new set in Season 4.
- Becoming Harrow - Actor Jack Huston details the origins, story arc, and evolution of fan-favorite character Richard Harrow.
- New Characters - Meet the new faces of season four: Dr. Valentin Narcisse, Roy Phillips, Agent Knox, Sally Wheet, Frank and Ralph Capone and Daughter Maitland.
- Season 3: Revisited - Get reacquainted with season 3 of Boardwalk Empire with this recap featuring creator/executive producer/writer Terence Winter.