Kurt Sutter Developing 'Sons of Anarchy' Mayans Spinoff for FX
The Mayans are set to ride again.
Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is prepping a potential spinoff to his long-running FX biker drama, which wrapped with record ratings in late 2014. Though it’s still early in the development process, the follow-up will center on the Mayans Motorcycle Club, which played a key role in the original.
For the time being, Sutter, who graces the current cover of The Hollywood Reporter, is keeping mum on details, so questions remain about the time period and the potential for Sons’ stars to return. On Sons, the Mayans were positioned as a rival California motorcycle club, comprising mostly Mexican-Americans in the heroin distribution business. The Oakland charter, led by president Marcus Alvarez (played by Emilio Rivera), began the series as SAMCRO’s adversary. But as time went on, SAMCRO built up a tenuous working relationship with the Mayans, both as business partners and partners in crime and turf wars.
Like Sutter’s forthcoming medieval drama The Bastard Executioner, this entry will be a co-production between Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions. Sutter and team have not yet locked in a writer to help spearhead the project as Sutter is consumed by Bastard, for which he serves as a creator, writer, producer, director and, yes, actor. In fact, his Dark Mute character, which requires three-plus hours of prosthetic makeup, is expected to appear in six episodes of the series’ first season, which launches Sept. 15 with a two-hour premiere on FX.
After two consecutive seven-season runs on contemporary crime-based dramas — first The Shield, then Sons — Sutter has been vocal about his desire to test a new genre. “Creatively, I wanted to do something really different,” he told THR of his decision to make his first project post Sons a Wales-based period drama about the plight of a 14th century executioner. “On The Shield, we just ran out of ways for Vic to f— people up, and eventually on Sons it became, 'How do I make yet another chase scene different and interesting?’ You just get a little burned out.”
But adding the Mayans project to Sutter’s current portfolio will allow him, as well as FX and the two affiliated studios, to keep alive a franchise that has generated a rabid following and staggering ratings. Sons’ audience famously grew every season, concluding its run as one of the most watched series in the network’s history. In that time, Sutter, too, became one of the most instantly recognizable showrunners in the television industry.
The Bastard Executioner premieres Sept. 15 at 10 p.m. on FX.
