With famed filmmaker Danny Boyle's new project tackling legendary British punk band The Sex Pistols, many would-be viewers are keen to know how to watch Pistol. Forming in London in the 1970s, The Sex Pistols were godfathers of the U.K. punk scene, and became well-known for their frantic stage shows and love of anarchic behavior. The Sex Pistols influenced the entire punk music genre, and while highly controversial in their heyday, are today mostly regarded as a seminal group that left their mark on pop culture.
The Sex Pistols' most famous line-up consisted of singer Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and perhaps most infamously bassist Sid Vicious. Vicious went on to become infamous for actions outside his music, eventually being accused of the murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen, although he died of a heroin overdose before he could stand trial. To be certain, The Sex Pistols' story is not necessarily a happy one, although it's definitely one worthy of a music biopic, or in this case a TV show.
That's what creator Craig Pearce and director Danny Boyle are setting out to do with Pistol, a miniseries based on Steve Jones' memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. Pistol looks at the rise and fall of the group through Jones' point of view, which as anyone who has read his book knows, involves some truly wild tales. Pistol consists of six episodes, and in the U.S., streams exclusively on Hulu beginning May 31, 2022. Outside the American bubble, Pistol streams on Disney+ beginning the same day.
Contrary to the way Hulu and Disney+ release most of their programming, the entire 6-episode Pistol miniseries is all being released on the same day. This will allow users to binge it if they wish. It's a somewhat odd move at a time where the inventor of binge TV, Netflix, is considering moving away from that model. With Oscar-winner Boyle at the helm though, Pistol will likely feel pretty cinematic, so perhaps it can be enjoyed by many as one long movie.
The normally family-friendly Disney+ may seem like an odd home for Pistol, but its inclusion there makes sense when one remembers that it's an FX production. Even if it's hard to imagine Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck rocking out with Johnny Rotten, the FX cable network brand is one of many the massive conglomerate acquired as part of Disney's 2019 purchase of Fox's movie and TV assets, so Pistol is essentially an in-house Disney product. Interestingly though, Rotten - real name John Lydon - actually doesn't endorse Pistol, and filed a lawsuit to try and bar Sex Pistols music from being used in it. Thankfully for interested viewers, he lost that battle.