'Boardwalk Empire': How Dabney Coleman's Cancer Affected The ...

The second season of "Boardwalk Empire" was propelled by a plot against Nucky Thompson led by The Commodore and Jimmy Darmody, but the coup storyline had to be re-written on the fly when actor Dabney Coleman was diagnosed with throat cancer. The A.V. Club interviewed Coleman and "Boardwalk" creator Terrence Winter, who revealed that the Commodore's debilitating stroke was introduced as a way to compensate for Coleman's condition, which occasionally rendered him unable to speak.

Dabney, who is now cancer-free, suspected his character was written off the show completely because of his illness. His disappointment was understandable. He had been excited to tackle the broadened role, telling Vulture after Season 1, "The role is going to be a little bigger and developed a bit more next year. They told me a story line, which I can?t reveal, that?s going to be a lot more interesting, and a lot of fun."

Winter clarified that The Commodore was always slated to be killed by Jimmy at the end of the season, but what the show's writers did have to change was his role in the plot against Nucky. Originally, the Commodore was supposed to lead the entire conspiracy, but Coleman's illness forced the show's writers to give Darmody more of a leadership role after the coup was already in motion.

The character's stroke felt abrupt to viewers who had just watched him recover from a long-term poisoning to regain his health and political ambition. At the time, HuffPost TV wrote in our "Boardwalk" gangster rankings that, "Just when we were starting to get a read on the complex political landscape developing on Season 2 of 'Boardwalk Empire,' a massive eruption has shifted everything around ... again. With the Commodore incapacitated by a stroke, the anti-Nucky conspirators suddenly find themselves without a leader, and panicked by the thought that betraying Atlantic City's treasurer may be the last mistake they'll make on this Earth."

Winter believes the improvised season ended up working well. He told the A.V. Club:

"We still wanted to keep the original story, where everybody conspires against Nucky and the Commodore leads the charge, but we thought that if there?s a way to have the Commodore set up the conspiracy, set up Nucky?s arrest, Eli?s on board, Jimmy?s on board, everybody?s behind them, and then early on the guy who?s leading this charge is now incapacitated ? from a story perspective, it actually amps things up in a really great way. Suddenly the general is out of commission, and these guys start turning on each other."

Check out the full interview at The A.V. Club.

Below, check out the most recent "Boardwalk Empire" gangster rankings:

• 1. Gyp Rosetti

  Gyp Rosetti finally made his move on Nucky Thompson, ambushing a shipment of booze headed for New York and killing several of his men. While Rosetti has at times veered close to self-parody this season, give the character some credit for guile in this episode. He successfully bought off the police in Tabor Heights after he burned their former Sheriff alive, using their protection to officially declare his war on Nucky. He's also making plans to use boats to import his own booze shipments in Atlantic City, but it seems doubtful his scheme will get that far.

• 2. Nucky Thompson

  Nucky fell from the top spot in the gangster rankings for the first time this season because of a series of impulsive mistakes that put his booze business, and personal safety, in danger. He let his newfound thirst for killing thieves get him in trouble when he insisted on joining Owen Sleater on a trip to track down Roland Smith, a young man who had robbed one of his warehouses. But while they were staking out his house, federal prohibition agents on Waxy Gordon?s payroll stormed the place, and fearing arrest or worse, they were forced to hide out in the cellar overnight. Before that, he blindly ordered his drivers to make their next shipment on time, despite the fact that the iced-over back roads weren?t a viable option, a move that led them directly into Rosetti?s ambush. And his refusal to forgive his brother Eli, easily one of the most competent men in his operation, prevented him from getting a handle on the Rosetti situation before it spiraled out of control.

• 3. Eli Thompson

  Despite Nucky's best efforts to punish him for his betrayal, Eli is emerging as one of the few competent members of his crew. After Atlantic City's former police chief offered Nucky his services as a enforcer only to be shot down by Nucky's typical callousness, Eli went above and beyond anyway, scouting out the Tabor Heights gas station, where he discovered that the local cops were working with Rosetti. Eli tried to warn Doyle not to send the shipments, then literally stood on the road yelling, "It's an ambush!" as the trucks drove past him. Nucky will have no choice but to "let him earn" soon.

• 4. Al Capone

  We saw a slightly softer side of Young Capone this week, as he tried to teach his deaf son to defend himself when he was getting bullied at school. When that didn?t quite work out, he took his rage out on Joe Miller, an O?Banion ally who earlier beat up Capone?s chubby, stinky associate with a beer mug. Capone went back to the bar and beat the man to death with his bare hands and a chair. ?You wanna pick on people who can?t defend themselves?? he yelled. This is the closest ?Boardwalk Empire? is likely to get to an anti-bullying episode, and it brought Chicago one step closer to a South Side vs. North side turf war.

• 5. Owen Sleater

  It was a rough episode for Owen Sleater, who doesn't seem to have his boss' full trust. Fortunately for him, Nucky hasn't yet put his finger on the real reason he should be skeptical of Owen (he slept with Margaret). Still, something seems amiss between the two: Early in the episode, Nucky coldly asked Owen, "Do I have to do your job too?" and then after they hid out in that basement overnight, wondered what he'd done to earn the Irishman's trust. On the plus side, Sleater is still sleeping with Nucky's house servant, who calls his penis Mr. Poofles.

• 6. Lucky Luciano

  Luciano was summoned to a meeting with Joe Masseria, an old-school Italian boss who wants a cut of his and Lansky's heroin profits, just like he takes from their card games and booze. Luciano offered him three percent, while Masseria countered with 30, an absurd counter meant to test Luciano's mettle. Playing the Italian solidarity card, Masseria tried to chip away at Luciano's alliance with Lansky and Rothstein, trying to convince him his Jewish partners will eventually betray him. But don't expect Luciano to bail on his friends anytime soon.

• 7. Arnold Rothstein

  Rothstein has been Nucky's closest ally, but he's beginning to get irritated with his partner in crime. Rothstein was the first to pick up on the fact that Nucky is not exactly on top of the details of his operation lately, and won't be happy to hear his shipment was stolen ... or that his underlings Luciano and Lansky are nearing a turf war with Joe Masseria.

• 8. Margaret Thompson

  Margaret met with a nun to go over their pre-natal care curriculum, and got a glimpse of the orthodoxy she's up against. The nun forbid her use of the words "vagina," "pregnant," or "menstruation," and was aghast at the site of a sanitary napkin. Margaret tried to hand out fliers on the boardwalk, but she ran into more resistance from the community. It's hard out there for a forward-thinking philanthropist, but props to her for fighting the good fight.

• 9. Mickey Doyle

  The gangster rankings will not rest until this character is killed off or exiled from Nucky's inner circle, and his incompetence is inching him ever closer to that fate. After complaining about the new booze shipment plan in front of Nucky, he got a harsh reminder that dissent is not welcome in his operation. Later, Doyle ignored Eli's advice to hold off on the shipment until they could consult Nucky again, and they paid a heavy price, losing a shipment and their drivers' lives in the ambush. Maybe Eli will be the one who puts this character out of his misery.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/boardwalk-empire-dabney-coleman-cancer_n_1951454.html

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