Boardwalk Empire is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and airing on premium cable channel HBO. The series is set in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the Prohibition era and stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson. Winter, a Primetime Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and producer, created the show, inspired by the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson about historical criminal kingpin Enoch L.