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San Andreas: Criminal Underworld

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“The criminal underworld is a dangerous place.”
―Series tagline

San Andreas: Criminal Underworld is a live-action television series set three years after the events of Grand Theft Auto V, and is set within the GTA HD Universe's State of San Andreas featuring Los Santos with some scenes set in San Fierro and Las Venturas. The series premiered on March 21st, 2016 with its one-hour television movie titled "Criminal Underworld: Introduction" on the ABC Network and Netflix.

Despite the name of the series, it does not have no connection to Grand Theft Auto: Criminal Underworld, which was stated by the show's creator Thomas Loon.

Plot summary

Premise

The criminal underworld in San Andreas is teeming with criminals, gangsters, drug lords, and full-on militia forces. In the midst of the chaos within, the Nakamura Crime Families remain as one of the most largest criminal organizations in the state, as well as the rest of the United States. Being led by Anakin Nakamura and his wife Kate, the organization often relies on outside contacts, but does not fully respect them.

Stuck in a war with the state's officials as well as other criminals, Anakin talks with his wife and cousin Luna Tachibana on dealing with their enemies, either discreetly or openly. However, their methods differ from each other; Anakin favouring open and honest dealings while Kate and Luna prefer discreetness and secrecy.

Characters

Kate Nakamura

Lindsay Katie Spade Nakamura, the underboss of the Nakamura Crime Families alongside her husband Anakin; a Canadian Army Chief Warrant Officer who was dishonourably discharged for killing a fellow officer after being sexually harassed, allegedly. She has since led the life of crime after agreeing to assist her cousin in a bank heist. Travelling North America, she eventually arrived in San Andreas and met Anakin Nakamura, marrying him three years later and becoming the underboss of the Nakamura Crime Families.

Anakin Nakamura

The leader of the Nakamura Crime Families; an individual born into the life of crime as the son of Andrew Thomas and Kanade Nakamura, who eventually became leader of the family organization, succeeding his father. Since his rise to the throne, he had made a name for himself, eventually stirring up trouble and rising crime rates in the State of San Andreas. Eventually assassinating his own father for being against him. After meeting Kate, he has since regret the order of his father's assassination.

Luna Tachibana

Cousin to Anakin Nakamura, and long standing member of the Nakamura Crime Families; Luna is a Japanese-American who always hung around with his cousin, occasionally getting into fights with other kids with Anakin and backing each other up. Eventually, the two began to resort to crime; robbing stores, mugging people, jumping rivals. After his cousin became the leader of the family organization, he joined as the "third" leader under Kate and Anakin.

Haley Fall

The daughter of the crime lord ruling the Fall Syndicate, Haley Fall was once a bodyguard under her father before wanting to move on to other things, abandoning the Fall Syndicate, followed by her younger brother. After finding out from her uncle, her father placed a bounty on her and Jenkins. Spending some time and making enemies in San Fierro, she ended up in San Andreas, eventually becoming an associate and personal friend of Luna Tachibana.

Jenkins Fall

Haley's younger brother who as a child and baby always followed her and never wanted her to leave him at all. As he grew up, he still always remained by his older sister's side. Even as a bodyguard for their father. He joined the Syndicate three years after Haley and followed her anywhere she went. After the death of his mother, he followed her when she left the Syndicate and ended up in San Andreas where they made some friends and looked for work.

Jesse Ford

The leader of the Eighth Brothers Syndicate; only known as Faith to the criminal underworld, Jesse Ford, like Anakin, is a ruthless criminal with extreme aggressive methods, as the leader of his syndicate. He and his younger brothers have built up the Syndicate through assault, homicide, murder, robbery, bribery, extortion, fraud, arms and drug smuggling, and theft. As a Canadian who has lived in San Andreas, his syndicate has made enemies including the Nakamura Crime Families, Hall Crime Family, the Madrazo Cartel, various African-American street gangs, and a Hispanic gang. He resides in the Vinewood Hills with his seven brothers.

Other Characters

  • Jeffery Thomas - African-American street hustler and a member of the Families. Jeffery leads a small group of gangsters under the Davis Neighborhood Families set. He is considered by many other professional criminals as a "trigger happy" gangster as well as being aggressive.
  • Roger McKay - American criminal whose a member of the Professionals whilst leading a small group of Professionals under his own leadership. As a hardened member of the Professionals crime network, Roger has dealt with African-American gangsters and Madrazo Cartel members, and is also aggressive but friendly.
  • Jeffery Ford - Canadian criminal lieutenant under his older brother Faith. As part of the Eighth Brothers Syndicate, he leads his own group within the organization which is at war against the Ballas gang. He is the second eldest brother in the Ford family. Unlike his older brother Faith, Jeff is one of the four brothers who aren't very aggressive as the rest.
  • Joseph Ford - Canadian criminal lieutenant who leads a portion of the Brothers Syndicate on his own. He is the third eldest brother in the Ford family. Joseph has been described as being the second most aggressive brother in the family, who is also known for murdering three men, and their families, that attacked his mother.
  • Jacob Ford - Canadian criminal lieutenant who resides in Los Santos with his brothers and leads a portion of the Syndicate alongside his older brothers. He is the fourth eldest brother in the Ford family. Jacob is considered by many as being the more strategic brother of the eight.
  • Ryan Ford - Canadian criminal captain who resides in Los Santos with his brothers. He is the fourth youngest brother of the Ford family. He is also the third aggressive brother of the eight as described by many others. Unlike his four older brothers, he does not lead his own portion of the syndicate but rather is the underboss of Joseph's portion of the syndicate.
  • Jadyn Ford - Canadian criminal captain who resides in Los Santos with his brothers. Jadyn is considered to be one of four brothers who aren't as aggressive and he is also the third youngest. He is the underboss of Jacob's portion of the syndicate.
  • Hunter Ford - Canadian criminal captain underboss of Jeffery's portion of the Syndicate, he is the second youngest brother of the eight brothers. He and Max are both considered weapon pacifists and are almost always seen without firearms.
  • Max Ford - Canadian criminal captain underboss of Anakin's underboss who is always seen by his older brother's side, however without weapons. He is the youngest brother and is considered the most kindest, but can be aggressive if Anakin tells him too.
  • Lewis Hall - American crime boss of the Hall Crime Family. Respectful, but ignorant as described by many. Later assassinated by the Fall siblings with the Crime Family left in ruin.

Development

Conception

As Nakamura Interactive was contracted by Rockstar Games to create an expansion to Grand Theft Auto V, Morningwood Entertainment also began talks with Rockstar Games about a new project which was announced as a partnership between Morningwood Arts and Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games. Many fans of Take-Two Interactive strongly speculated that this new project was going to be centered around a movie or TV series, one of the most notable speculations was the Grand Theft Auto movie rumour.

On December 15th, 2015, Morningwood Entertainment released a video on their official YouTube channel titled "San Andreas: Criminal Underworld - Official Teaser" which featured one of the show's main characters, Anakin Nakamura, walking through his house in the Vinewood Hills with other shots focusing on members of the Nakamura Crime Families. This received positive feedback from fans of the Grand Theft Auto series.

Production

It was stated that in June 2015, the project between Morningwood Entertainment and Rockstar Games was in development with the project being called Project Underworld which many fans have speculated about a possible Grand Theft Auto movie or TV series set within the GTA Universe.

After the release of the official teaser on December 15th, 2015, Morningwood Entertainment confirmed the project to be a TV series set within the GTA HD Universe, and that it would be set three years after the events of Grand Theft Auto V, following the trend of Rockstar Games setting the year of the games on the year they were released in. On February 13th, 2016, M.E. released another YouTube video on their channel titled "San Andreas: Criminal Underworld - Official Trailer" which featured the show's main characters and revealed the setting as Los Santos, San Andreas.

The show's writers were announced to consist of Thomas Loon, Joseph Spade, and Rockstar Games employees with the director being Thomas, and the executive producers themselves being Morningwood Entertainment and Rockstar Games.

Casting

Release

Seasons

Season One

  • Criminal Underworld: Introduction
Kate Nakamura introduces the criminal underworld within Los Santos, Blaine County, and the State of San Andreas, particularly mentioning the Nakamura Crime Families and their rivals, the Hall Crime Family.
  • Ambush
The Hall Crime Family cuts a deal with the Nakamura Crime Families to end hostilities, however all goes wrong and the meeting is ambushed by an African-American street gang, and hostilities remain high.
  • Aftermath
Anakin orders an assassination on the Hall Crime Family don Lewis Hall after the ambush, suspecting he was behind on it. Meanwhile, Kate and Luna both look for alternatives to dealing with their rivals as opposed to Anakin's point of view.
  • Intervention
After Lewis Hall is reported to have been killed, Luna requests the help of two of his outside contacts for a job important to the Nakamura Crime Families to ensure it isn't traced back to Anakin.

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

Season Five

Cast

Trivia

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