The following contains spoilers for Dope Thief Episode 4, "Philadelphia Lawyer". If you're not caught up with the series, you can check it out with an Apple TV+ subscription.
If you've been up to date with the 2025 TV schedule, you'd know about the latest Apple TV+ series, Dope Thief, and its incredible fourth episode. So, after the explosive car scene that was the epitome of a climax for main characters Ray and Manny, I knew I had to ask the creator – and the actors – what it was like to film it (and their answers were everything).
While I talked with creator Peter Craig on behalf of CinemaBlend, he admitted that while the show is based on a novel, he created this scene all on his own. In the moment, Manny is willing to take out both him and Ray in a car with a grenade that he stole after witnessing several people shot, and Ray holds it to stop him from killing each other. Through this scene, Craig wanted a to show how Ray and Manny were truly on two totally different sides of dealing with the emotions of what happened in the premiere, telling me:
Manny really keeps thinking he can be redeemed somehow, and it keeps getting worse. And he's so frustrated at that point because Ray has the opposite problem. Ray is trying to micromanage and solve problems that can't be solved anymore. There's absolutely no way for him to manage this flood that's coming at him. And Manny feels like this keeps making it worse.
Craig also openly admitted he wanted to make the explosive scene as "dramatic" as possible, and noted how he often turns things up to an "eleven" when writing these types of moments:
I have a way of writing where I just try to turn everything up to 11, you know. And I thought, 'Okay, how can we put the most stakes in what would normally just be a conversation?' I personally fell in love with both of those actors [Henry and Moura] when they were shooting that scene because they were just lying on the pavement exhausted. They were both going so hard.
When I spoke to Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura about the scene, Moura admitted it was "the most intense" scene he had done in the show—which is saying something.
The series itself is filled with crazy moments. Some of them aren't as nail-biting—like watching Kate Mulgrew's Theresa slap her adoptive son across the face. However, there's no denying that there are multiple scenes that feel like they're at an eleven, as the Peter Craig-created series has had deaths galore, gun fights, and now, an entire car exploding because of a grenade.
Henry added praise for Craig's writing and creating such an intense friendship. He also added that if this were to happen in real life, where Moura had a grenade, he would stop him from holding it – jokingly adding he would beat him after:
I don't have many friendships like that. If you're fortunate enough to meet somebody like that in your life, it changes you and it reflected the chemistry between and friendship between Wagner and I. 'Cause I would do that for you. I would do that. I would absolutely do that for – I would beat your ass after, but I would absolutely do that.
Talk about a fantastic friendship. While Dope Thief continues to air episodes every Friday, you can catch the first four that are out now, detailing the adventures of Ray and Manny and the DEA agents that hunt them down (led by Amir Arison). There are so many fantastic upcoming Apple TV+ shows, but I think I'll be sticking with Dope Thief and these crazy moments for a while.
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