"The past is never dead. In fact, it's not even past." Novelist William Faulkner wrote these words about the American South. But they could just as easily apply to the crumbling seaside kingdom of 'Boardwalk Empire' (Sun., 9PM ET on HBO). The show's season finale is ironically titled "A Return to Normalcy" -- but in the end ... nothing really ends.

'Boardwalk Empire' is set during the Roaring Twenties, but its ideas about politics and corruption are as current as today's headlines. Some things never change, after all. In the course of the finale, Crime boss Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi) defeats his foes, securing his position at the top of the Atlantic City criminal empire. "God bless America!" he says, right before his moment of political triumph. (Some things really never change.)

But Nucky's victory might just be an illusion. Waiting in the wings are three men who want to take him down.

The series 'Boardwalk Empire' (Sun., 9PM ET on HBO) is set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition. Alcohol has just been outlawed in the United States, and gangsters are ready to take advantage of this fact. Lead character Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi) is half mob boss, half corrupt politician. And he hatches a plan to make a lot of money -- by selling booze illegally. But as Nucky is about to learn, this is the dawning of a new era, and you can't do things by "halves" anymore.

[Spoiler alert.]

Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) is Nucky's former protege. But Jimmy has recently returned to American from fighting in the trenches of World War I. Taking part in a brutal war has given Jimmy a fresh outlook on life, and Nucky isn't quite ready for it.

It's got 1920s classic cars, men with big guns and a nattily-dressed, slightly-mustachioed Steve Buscemi brandishing a cigarette. It's looks just like a scene right out of a gangster movie.

And then you see that it's HBO's just-released trailer for its upcoming new series 'Boardwalk Empire.' Produced by Emmy-winning 'Sopranos' writer Terence Winter AND Martin Scorsese, you know that this show is not just going to be gangster: It's going to be all-out, balls-to-the-wall, bloody gangsta.

Watch the video after the jump.

I'm crazy for HBO, and one of the shows I'm really looking forward to is Boardwalk Empire, a pilot executive produced by Martin Scorsese (who's also directing), Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, and Terence Winter (who's also penning the pilot).

Based on the Nelson Johnson book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City, the project chronicles the 1920s origins of Atlantic City, New Jersey. From what I've read, it sounds like a mix of The Departed, The Sopranos and Goodfellas -- all favorites of mine. And the cast they've got lined up couldn't be better.

Steve Buscemi plays Nucky Johnson, a businessman who runs a liquor distribution ring at the beginning of Prohibition. Michael Pitt (pictured) is in negotiations to play Jimmy Darmody, a bright, young, ruthless WWI veteran who serves as a flunky for Nucky, but yearns for more power.