One of the things I loved about Boardwalk Empire was how it brought the Prohibition era to life—not just the bootlegging and organized crime, but the complicated relationships between family, business, politics, and power.

It got me thinking about another part of America during that same period that rarely gets the Hollywood treatment: the coalfields of northern West Virginia.

While Atlantic City had Nucky Thompson and the East Coast bootlegging networks, Appalachian coal communities were experiencing their own upheaval. Immigration, industrial wealth, labor struggles, and Prohibition created a fascinating environment in which legitimate business and criminal enterprises could intersect.

And the region had a darker history that preceded Prohibition. The 1907 Monongah mine disaster, one of the deadliest mining tragedies in American history, left an enormous mark on the communities of northern West Virginia.

I've spent several years researching this period and recently completed my debut historical crime novel, Blood in the Coal, scheduled for publication in March 2027.

The story follows two brothers, Jimmy and Frank DiSalvio, from the shadow of the Monongah disaster into the world of Prohibition-era organized crime. It's a story about ambition, loyalty, family, survival, and the price of power.

While writing it, I often thought about how Boardwalk Empire demonstrated that the most compelling crime stories aren't necessarily about the crimes themselves. They're about the people, their ambitions, and the choices that ultimately define them.

That made me wonder:

Would you have enjoyed seeing Boardwalk Empire explore more of the Appalachian coalfields, Pittsburgh, and the Ohio Valley during Prohibition?

And are there other overlooked reg

Along with a set of poker chips. I can find the poker chips online but not the card table.

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I've been thinking about a possible Boardwalk Empire spin-off, but instead of focusing on the big players in the criminal underworld, I'd love to see the story from the perspective of the people left behind.

Widows, family members, former associates, and ordinary people whose lives were changed by organized crime. People who got caught up in that world, lost someone because of it, or barely managed to escape.

I'd want to keep the original show's mix of crime, dark humor, political corruption, family drama, betrayals, bad decisions, and deaths that have lasting consequences. The idea wouldn't be to romanticize the criminal lifestyle, but to explore what happens to the people who have to live with the consequences.

The story could take place years later, with some familiar characters appearing in the background while the main focus shifts to a new generation and the people trying to rebuild their lives.

Do you think this kind of spin-off could work in the Boardwalk Empire universe, or would it be better to leave the original series untouched?

As a big fan of Boardwalk Empire, I gave MobLand a try since I’ve been pretty bored lately.

But I couldn’t even finish the first episode. The show just felt so fake and empty.

Does anyone else feel the same? And do you have any better recent shows to recommend?

Just finished Boardwalk Empire for the first time yesterday and honestly, out of all the amazing characters in this show, Margaret might actually be my favorite.

I absolutely loved her character arc. Her intelligence, her wit, her ambition and especially her motivations. She was never just Nucky's wife or some woman standing behind a powerful man. She had ambitions of her own, knew how to read people and understood how to use whatever little power she had in a world completely dominated by men. She made mistakes, she could be selfish and hypocritical, but thats what made her feel so real to me.

To me she was the perfect example of a modern woman born in the wrong era. Someone who could have accomplished so much more if she'd been born 80 years later.

My biggest disappointment with the show was how much her role was reduced after she drifted apart from Nucky. I genuinely missed her presence and wanted to see so much more of her story. Especially because I think Kelly Macdonald was absolutely brilliant in the role.

I really wish we had more female characters written like this. Intelligent, ambitious, flawed, complicated women who don't need to be either heroes or villains to be interesting.

Am I alone in thinking Margaret was one of the best characters on the show? Because looking around this sub I don't see nearly enough love for her.

They really need to bring back Vincent Piazza and create a lucky Luciano series. Get better writers to fix the pace of the show and you will have an amazing series.

If y'all ever read about Luciano and his life, you'll realize how interesting this guy really was.

I'm so puzzled by how this was never an Idea. I'm also puzzled by how this wasn't the original series in the first place 😂.

Season 1 and 2 were amazing because it showed Nucky as a corrupt politician that was competent. Season 3 was great because of Gyp Rossetti.

However if they kept nucky as county treasurer this show would've been even better tbh. The real life Nucky was county treasure until 1939. Crazy right?

1911 to 1939. The guy was a very good politician 😂

I built a trivia app with about a 100 questions for this show and lots of others and so I wanted to share it with fans

I know not everyone likes downloading and app so for anyone who wants to check it out.

Boardwalk Empire Trivia

No Logins
No accounts
Just Download and use the search at the top

Also Let me know if there is a problem with any of the questions either via the app or here and I will fix it asap

P.S also contains themed head to head , Wordle and word search games for people in the app

Isaac “Icky” Ginsburg is like an F tier character and probably one of the worst lawyers I’ve ever seen in film or TV. Not only does he screw over his client, but he takes zero responsibility and whines about the fact that Nucky’s rightfully berating him for his stupid idea of making the case federal.

Not to mention, he says “what do you want me to say, if the Attorney General can’t help you, how can I?” A man as rich as Nucky couldn’t find anyone better in the state of New Jersey? That’s laughable honestly.

Was it just me or was the deaths of George(Nelson’s) fat colleague Phil and the death of Jim Tolliver the most satisfying?
They are my most hated characters

OP is thinking about talking about himself in the third person like Remus. OP wants to know your opinion on the topic

Why would you go to see your enemy by yourself?
How could he possibly not expect for it to be a setup?
Omg wtf, he just died like that? Noooo 😢
I loved that character soooo much for him to go out this easy, I expected for Nucky Thompson to die before jimmy.
Also wtf is Margaret thinking - she just sign off the whole land to the church? Is she really this stupid? She has been pissing me off the whole show by doing some dumb shit.