Kurt Sutter Is Coming Back to TV With ‘The Abandons’ Years After Being Fired From the ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Spinoff ‘Mayans MC’
Kurt Sutter was fired from his Sons of Anarchy spinoff, Mayans MC, back in October 2019. In the years since his departure, he’s been working on other projects and one has finally received a series order. Sutter is officially coming back to TV with his new series The Abandons.
Kurt Sutter got fired from ‘Mayans MC’ after FX received ‘multiple complaints’
Sutter is best known for creating the outlaw biker drama Sons of Anarchy and its spinoff, Mayans MC. The showrunner regularly clashed with Fox executives during the run of his original series. But when Disney merged with Fox, it became clear that Sutter wouldn’t be able to work with his new bosses.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter at the time, Sutter has always been outspoken about his management style — which executives once described as “unprofessional behavior.” When they finally gave Sutter the ax from Mayans MC, the network claimed it was due to receiving multiple complaints about the producer.
“This morning I was fired by Dana Walden and John Landgraf for all the complaints levied against me,” Sutter wrote in a letter to his employees. “Not the way I wanted to end my 18-year relationship with FX. At least being fired for being an abrasive d*** is on brand.”
The ‘Sons of Anarchy’ creator is returning to TV with ‘The Abandons’
More than three years after his departure from Mayans MC, Sutter is returning to TV with his new western action drama The Abandons. Netflix has given the series a 10-episode order after going into development in the fall of 2021.
According to the show’s official logline, the series will focus on “a group of diverse, outlier families” who are pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon. At the same time, these families are up against a “corrupt force of wealth and power” who covet their land and are trying to force them out.
“These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back,” the series logline reads, per Variety. “In this bloody process, ‘justice’ is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law. The Abandons will explore that fine line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets, as this family fights to keep their land.”
Kurt Sutter says ‘The Abandons’ is inspired by real events in history, but set in a fictional world
Per What’s On Netflix, Sutter says he’s always been fascinated with the origins of La Cosa Nostra, and how Sicilian peasant families were being marginalized by aristocrats and land barons.
“These families banded together to defend themselves from these abusive land barons, and from that taking those matters into their own hands, La Cosa Nostra was born and became the authority and the law and the order of the land,” Sutter explained.
He says the first season of The Abandons will be about the evolution of these families turning into outlaws.
“So, it’s sort of like the precursor to the James Gang and other sort of iconic outlaws that we associate with the Wild West. So we might wink at history, say in Season 2 or 3 crossing paths with an 11-year-old Billy the Kid, and yet still be able to play in the fictional world, to me, is cool,” Sutter said.
The Abandons is expected to premiere on Netflix in 2024.
