17-05-2025
Prison inmates will now be able to see how they are depicted in John Ibrahim's Last King of the Cross as drama series moves to Channel 10
The final series of the Last King of the Cross, based on the 2017 memoir of Sydney nightclub identity John Ibrahim, is well underway in Sydney.
On Friday, Sydney Confidential reported Ibrahim, 54, is 'bunkered down' with a team of writers working on the final 10-part instalment of the gritty drama.
Lincoln Younes will continue in the role of Ibrahim, as he transforms from Kings Cross and Oxford Street nightclub boss to bonafide millionaire mogul.
The third season will centre on the June 2009 shooting of Ibrahim's younger brother Fadhi, who was shot four times in the stomach and twice in the arms and shoulders, by a masked man who crept up to the window of the now-51-year-old's Lamorghini outside his Castle Cove mansion.
No one has ever been charged, despite allegations of the motive being a 'revenge plot' against older Ibrahim brothers John and Sam.
Season one of the Logie-nominated Paramount+ show will also go to free-to-air on Channel 10, which means prison inmates in New South Wales will be able to view it for the first time.
The first series kicks off in 1987 and was billed by Paramount as the story of: 'Wide-eyed kid John Ibrahim, who surreptitiously follows his older brother and hero, Sam, into the most exotic red-light district in the Southern Hemisphere.'
Once a feared bikie boss, protection racketeer, and legendary Kings Cross enforcer, Sam Ibrahim now lives in near seclusion with his ailing mother in Sydney's western suburbs after escaping deportation to Lebanon.
Hassam 'Sam' Ibrahim slammed his depiction in the hit series as a killer and drug-addicted bikie who struggles with his young brother's rise to power.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph after its 2023 release, Sam branded his on-screen portrayal by Claude Jabbour as 'all crap' and even said he would attempt to block a second season with a court injunction.
In the hit series, the convicted gun runner is depicted as a killer and a drug-addicted bikie who struggles with his younger brother John's rise to power.
'I'm not saying I'm a saint. I've been charged with a few things in my life. But I've never been charged with murder and they've got me on the show shooting people and throwing someone out of a window. I've never done that,' he said.
'They've [also] got my character killing people and snorting cocaine with prostitutes. Don't get me wrong, I liked to party. But I never partied that much.'
Both men were prominent figures in Sydney's nightclub district and the series explored key events in their lives, including John's near fatal stabbing and other attempts on his life.
In the hit series, the convicted gun runner is depicted as a killer and a drug-addicted bikie who struggles with his younger brother John's rise to power.
Ibrahim is an executive producer on the project, and was snapped on set in a western Sydney carpark during filming, some 35km fro the actual Cross, where the Golden Mile's most familiar landmarks were recreated.
No casting announcement has yet been made for model Sarah Budge, John's girlfriend who was cleared of a gun-possession charge in a sensational Sydney trial in 2019.
John has been in a relationship with Sarah, whom he met after buying the Potts Point building where she operated a restaurant, since 2015.
The Lebanese-born entrepreneur migrated from Tripoli to Australia with his family as a young child before securing his first nightclub at age 19.
Dave Hoey stepped in as younger brother Michael Ibrahim in season two, and Fadi, is played by TV newcomer Alex Kaan.
Likewise, Detective Liz Doyle, played by Tess Haubrich, Big Tony, Tongan Sam played by Uli Latukefu and Simone played by Janet Anderson will all reprise their roles.
