Fightland follows Maduka ‘Duke’ Kilroy (Howard Charles), a disgraced formerly incarcerated boxing champion who returns to London to seek revenge against the family he thinks betrayed him, driven by non-stop action and questionable characters in a world centered on money and power.

Richard Pepple plays Duke Kilroy’s father, Gary ‘Gazzer’ Kilroy, in Starz’s new series, Fightland. Pepple’s became a part of the project through the audition process and getting a script and reading it and thinking that it was really good just from the sides. He read and recorded with a good friend of his and had so much fun recording the two scenes. He received the first episode and his reaction was, “Wow, this is even bigger than what I had thought it was. Based off what I read, this is quite epic.” Pepple said there was excitement and buzz from a very early stage. As an actor, Pepple hears many nos in the audition process but had constantly asked his agent if he had heard anything about this role, because he wanted to be involved, and then he got the call that he got the role. Pepple had worked with the Fightland writers about fifteen years ago on their first job and it felt like it had come full circle. The show has been a treat and a special job that will stay with him for a long time.

Fightland is a new series by the same Executive Producers, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson through his G-Unit Film & Television, as the Power Universe that has had four series and two more on the way. It’s possible that Fightland could also have its own universe and Pepple’s wishes for that. He went on to say that Fightland tells such a rich story about something that people don’t know much about with sort of an undercurrent in the boxing world. Pepple also shared that there was a lot of dedication and commitment to the project very early on to really bring this world to a wider audience and tell this story about these characters, which was very exciting.

Should you love Richard Pepple’s character, Gazzer?

Pepple’s says, “They shouldn’t love my character, but they should definitely try to understand my character, which is all anyone ever wants out of life, is to be understood. And I think there are times when Gazzer comes across as misunderstood, but that's down to his lack of communication, or his poor communication skills, or a bit of an inability to express himself. So, I think if people can sort of see the humanity to Gazzer, and his motivations, how obvious they may seem or not, I think that would at least give people an intrigue and maybe, you know, if not a love for Gazzer, then certainly an understanding for Gazzer, which is definitely what I want.”

Peppler seems to agree that there is a backstory to Gazzer and that it would be something to explore.

You can decide for yourself how you feel about Richard Pepple’s Fightland character, Gazzer, now streaming on Starz, with new episodes available to stream weekly on Fridays only on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms. Watch the interview below.