Sons of Anarchy Creator’s New Western The Abandons Lands at Netflix

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter will helm a new western drama for Netflix.

As revealed in an interview with Deadline, Sutter has struck a deal with Netflix for The Abandons, which will be set in the old West. Sutter described the series’ plot by saying the central premises sees a rich family attempting to get land from ranchers “somewhere between the Dakotas and California, small cattle town, circa 1850” by money or force. Several other families will band together to stand up against the person assaulting their way of life, becoming outlaws in the process.

Sutter explained, “Thematically, it’s all the shit I love; family, that fine line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and my favorite and the thing that was so prevalent in Sons: the corrosive power of secrets.” He also claimed The Abandons would “lean away from some of the expected tropes” of the western genre.

After saying he’s always wanted to do a western, Sutter described The Abandons as springing from his interest in La Cosa Nostra, also known as the Sicilian mafia, and how the group formed as a reaction to “abusive land barons” and the aristocracy. That interest then intersected with a specific episode of classic western TV series Bonanza. The episode in question sees main character Hoss Cartwright trying to take revenge for a killing and nearly ending up becoming an outlaw in the process.

As Sutter notes, due to the time period, The Abandons Season 1 would take place before such iconic outlaws as Jesse James and Billy the Kid. Future seasons, though, might contain a nod to those historical figures with cameos. Sutter also mentioned Netflix’s excitement for the show and its approach to “race, gender, [and] morality in a really kind of organic and meaningful way.” So despite The Abandons being set in the past, the show will engage with current events by “[paralleling] this ongoing tragedy we’re experiencing right now.”

Specifics about The Abandons beyond what Sutter said in the interview were not given. Currently, there’s no casting information for the project, and there does not seem to be any set production start date. Episodes of The Abandons may run one-hour each, and future seasons could see the series’s setting change.

Sutter is best known for his work on Sons of Anarchy, which ran for seven seasons from 2008 until 2014 on FX. The series followed Jax Teller and the members of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original and their criminal operations. Sutter went on to co-create a spin-off, titled Mayans M.C., which has been running on FX since 2018. Sutter left that series in 2019. His next project, This Beast, will also release on Netflix.