'Boardwalk Empire' Season 4 Premiere / Episode 1 Recap: Cast Favorites Return for New Season / Episode 2 Preview [TRAILER]

Boardwalk Empire returned with the Season 4 premiere September 8 on HBO. From the first hour of the new season, HBO promises a Boardwalk more dramatic and intense as ever.

We left off in Season 3 with Nucky going from top to bottom and back on top of Atlantic City. After defeating his greatest threat ever, Gyp Rosetti, Nucky is back in control of New Jersey, and the field is wide open.

Last night's premiere debuted a much more self-aware Nucky. At least in episode 1, it looks like Nucky has decided to give up Gatsby-style public hero, to a much more enigmatic tyrant. He's no longer staying in the lavish Ritz Carlton in the center of the Boardwalk. He now lives in a hotel just outside of New Jersey.

Of course it's only a matter of time before Nucky has to shed his anonymity. It could lead to the perception of weakness from his competitors. All his enemies need is to smell blood, before grasping for the throne.

Some familiar faces also appeared in the Season 4 premiere. Al Capone [Stephen Graham] and Chalky White [Michael K. Williams] definitely seem to have more significant roles in Season 4.

White finally got the African-American friendly nightclub on the Boardwalk he wanted. Chalky soon discovers however, being charge is a messier job than he could have even expected.

Richard Harrow [Jack Houston] is also back for Season 4. Straight out of a Hemingway novel, the masked murderer goes on a killing spree on the way back home to Wisonsin. What will happen to the show's sympathetic psychopath?

Tune in for Boardwalk Empire Season 4 Episode 2, Sunday at 9 PM on HBO.

Here's a preview trailer for next week's episode: