‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Spin-Off ‘Mayans MC’ Won’t Drive Head-On Into Politics
Mayans MC, Kurt Sutter’s upcoming FX motorcycle drama, won’t be driving head-on into politics. Set in the fictional California border town of Santa Padre, the highly anticipated Sons of Anarchy spin-off will follow the Latino Mayans motorcycle club from Sutter’s original show with a focus on the drug trade along the U.S./Mexican border. But the new show won’t attempt to tackle Trump-era immigration policies.
During an appearance at the ATX Television Festival, Sutter said that despite the current political climate, Mayans MC won’t and it won’t directly address political themes during its 10-episode run.
“I do not write political shows, I should not write political shows,” the Mayans MC creator said, according to Indiewire. “But the real world always impacted [Sons of Anarchy]. This is not a show that will deal head-on with those issues but it takes place on the border and it’s a politically-charged, and emotionally-charged part of the world, [and] that stuff will have to bleed into the storyline or it won’t be authentic.”
Sutter pointed out that the while Sons of Anarchy’s original storyline with the white supremacist “was based on 45 percent uptick in white supremacy groups when Obama took office,” he added, “We never mentioned that, it was never a story point, but that was the reality of that world.”
Walk with the Mayans M.C. this Fall on FX. #MayansFX #BehindTheScenes pic.twitter.com/yASHjlQoeq
— Mayans MC (@MayansFX) May 17, 2018
Mayans MC will be set three years after the events in Sons of Anarchy, and Jax Teller’s (Charlie Hunnam) final day and his impact on the Northern California motorcycle club world will be addressed on the new show.
According to Entertainment Weekly, preview footage of the Sons of Anarchy spin-off introduced the Mayan club’s latest recruit, Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (JD Pardo), who joins the motorcycle club on a drug run to that goes awry when the shipment is held up by armed gunmen. EZ’s father, Felipe (Edward James Olmos), the patriarch of the show, is also introduced.
Family meeting. #MayansFX #behindthescenes pic.twitter.com/o9MIMHiD62
— Mayans MC (@MayansFX) June 8, 2018
Sutter, who co-created Mayans MC with Elgin James and later brought in Norberto Barbra as director and executive producer, said he wants the spin-off series to stand apart from Sons of Anarchy. Sutter knew the best way to showcase the adventures of the predominantly Latino motorcycle club would be to get himself out of the writers’ room.
“My goal is really to get the white guy out of the room as quickly as possible,” Sutter revealed.
“I knew I wanted to do this project and I wanted to bring in a voice that was real and that was not a white guy. I knew a white guy from Jersey shouldn’t be writing solely about the Latino culture.”
Sutter also admitted that his goal is to make a show that doesn’t just feel like the Latino version of Sons of Anarchy. While Emilio Rivera, who played Marcus Alvarez on all seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy, will be a series regular on Mayans MC, Sutter reportedly played coy when asked if any other Sons of Anarchy stars will make cameos on the spin-off series.
In addition to JD Pardo and Edward James Olmos, Mayans MC stars Sarah Bolger, Clayton Cardenas, Richard Cabral, Michael Irby, Raoul Trujillo, Antonio Jaramillo, and Carla Baratta.
Mayans MC premieres this fall on FX.
