Universal’s Miami Vice ’85 has added John Leguizamo, Walton Goggins, Edi Gathegi, Andrew Schulz and André Holland to a cast led by Michael B. Jordan as Ricardo Tubbs and Austin Butler as James “Sonny” Crockett.
Leguizamo will play the film’s main villain, a cartel boss, The Hollywood Reporter first reported in September. The part takes him back to where his screen career began. His first real acting job was a guest role on the original NBC series in 1986, as the son of a drug lord.
Goggins, of Fallout and Justified, plays one of the henchmen working for Leguizamo’s character, according to Deadline. Gathegi and Schulz joined at around the same time. Holland, known for Moonlight and The Knick, signed earlier this month in a role that has not been revealed.
They join Alden Ehrenreich, Whitney Peak, Camila Morrone and Danny Ramirez, all announced earlier in the year. Peak is reported to be playing the love interest to Jordan’s Tubbs.
The Production
Joseph Kosinski, director of Top Gun: Maverick and F1, is directing from a script by Dan Gilroy, with an earlier draft by Eric Warren Singer. Kosinski is producing with Dylan Clark.
The film is set in 1985 and draws on the pilot episode and first season of the original series, created by Anthony Yerkovich and executive produced by Yerkovich and Michael Mann. Trade reports have pointed to a November start for principal photography in New York and Miami, and industry tracker Production List has listed the film as in production since early October. It is being shot for IMAX and is scheduled for release on May 19, 2028.
The New Jersey Set
Part of the Preakness Shopping Center in Wayne, New Jersey, a largely empty strip mall, was turned into a mid-1980s Miami street almost overnight from October 1, realtor.com reported. Crews brought in palm trees and built period shopfronts, among them a video rental store, a VCR repair shop, a menswear boutique, an ice cream shop and a liquor store, all stocked with merchandise. A CVS and a salon on the same parade are still open for business.
The site had been earmarked for 244 apartments under a deal Wayne Township Council signed off in 2020. That scheme never got started.
Realtor.com reported that the crew is preparing to film there in the coming weeks. Photos posted by local car spotter Brandon Denman show 1980s cars, including police vehicles, already staged in the car park.
The Boat
PBN has followed the production since February, when we rode aboard Vicious, Gus Morales’s 1986 Wellcraft Scarab 38KV Miami Vice Edition, out of TNT Marine Center in North Miami.
It is one of 33 Miami Vice Edition Scarabs Wellcraft built and sold to the public between 1986 and 1989. Morales has re-engined it with twin 540ci big-blocks producing 1,300 horsepower combined, against the factory’s 880, while keeping the period look.
In May, Lewis Hamilton took the helm of Vicious on Biscayne Bay for his “Vice City Run” Instagram reel, filmed around the Miami Grand Prix.
We understand Morales remains in discussions with the production.
TNT has its own link to the last screen version. John Tomlinson, the offshore racing champion who co-founded TNT, was Colin Farrell’s stunt double in Michael Mann’s 2006 Miami Vice film. Mann premiered a new Director’s Final Cut of that film at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles on October 3.
Which Boats Will Feature?
Read our earlier look at the boats that defined the original series and the hardware a 1985-set production will need.
Read the Story
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
