Gyton Grantley says playing gangland kingpin Carl Williams for a second time wraps up a dark era in Australia's criminal history.
Grantley plays the late Williams in a secondary role in the Nine Network's mini-series Fat Tony & Co, which centres on the dealings and capture of convicted drug dealer Tony Mokbel.
The nine-part series starts on February 23 and features several cast members from the original Underbelly series about Melbourne's gangland war in the 1990s and 2000s.
Williams was a central figure in Underbelly and Grantley brings the criminal back to the screen in Fat Tony & Co.
Also reprising their Underbelly roles are Robert Mammone as Mokbel, Les Hill (Jason Moran), Vince Colosimo (Alphonse Gangitano), Simon Westaway (Mick Gatto), Gerard Kennedy (Graham Kinniburgh) and Kevin Harrington (Lewis Moran).
Hollie Andrew replaces Kat Stewart as Williams' wife Roberta, Madeleine West is Mokbel's girlfriend Danielle McGuire and Debra Byrne plays Judy Moran.
Grantley said it was a buzz being able to reunite with the cast from the original Underbelly series.
"We've got the band back together," Grantley told AAP with a grin during a set visit to Melbourne.
"There's a few that haven't been able to come back and that's a shame but the vibe, the energy and the spirit is still there that we had on set the first time."
Fat Tony & Co covers the manhunt for Mokbel, the dismantling of his drug empire and his eventual capture in Greece in 2007.
Mokbel was sentenced in 2012 to 30 years jail, with a non-parole period of 22 years, after pleading guilty to three charges relating to a sophisticated drug cartel known as The Company.
While the series is obviously a sequel to the 2008 Underbelly series, contractual reasons prevent this production being filed under the same title.
A number of scenes from Underbelly have been recreated for Fat Tony & Co, including the 2003 shooting murder of Pasquale Barbaro and Jason Moran at a junior football clinic in Melbourne.
"It's kind of fitting to tell Tony's story and, in my case with Carl, it is going to close the book on it all and put it to rest in a sense," Grantley said.
Grantley piled on the kilos to reprise his role as the overweight Williams but unlike the first time around, the Sydney-based actor was allowed to thin down during filming.
That worked in well with Grantley who was appearing in the stage musical South Pacific, performing song and dance routines, at the same time he was shooting the Nine Network series.
"In terms of Carl in this story, he goes to jail pretty soon and he lost a lot of weight so he was no longer a fat man," Grantley said.
"As the shooting continues, Carl spends a lot of time in jail so it works out quite well for me losing weight while I was appearing in South Pacific."
Grantley said playing Williams had been a boon for his professional career and made him more recognisable in public even if he was referred to at times as "Underbelly".
"I was at the Opera bar one night (during the season of South Pacific) being hassled by some drunk boys from Tasmania and they didn't even call me Carl, they just called me Underbelly," Grantley said.
"That can get frustrating but for everyone of them, there are five other fans who are beautifully polite and respectful.
"They're the people who make your job possible at the end of the day."
* Fat Tony & Co starts on Sunday, February 23 at 8.40pm on the Nine Network.
