Everyone with a Netflix subscription knows that the streamer has a lot of irons in the creative fire, as it manages to bring viewers a wide and sometimes wild variety of new content on a near daily basis. Well, we appear to be getting closer to yet another new release on the service, in the form of a series from Sons of Anarchy and Mayans M.C. creator Kurt Sutter, called The Abandons.
Word about the show picked up recently when Game of Thrones cast member Lena Headey was announced as the lead, but if you still need to know more about the drama, we’ve got answers for plenty of your questions right here!
What Is The Abandons Release Date?
While Kurt Sutter has been working on his idea for the show for a while (which I’ll get more into in a bit), things are just now really picking up, meaning that there’s currently no release date that’s been set for the series. But, with the lead actor now cast and an intriguing story that's sure to capture the hearts of many drama lovers, we’ll likely hear more about at least a release window by the end of the year.
Lena Headey And Gillian Anderson Star
Though Lena Headey is largely known for her eight seasons as the power-hungry, conniving, will-do-anything-to-rule Cersei Lannister on the famed HBO hit Game of Thrones, Tudum revealed that she’s now signed on to head up the cast of The Abandons. The actress will portray Fiona Nolan, a woman who, after not being able to give birth to children of her own, has adopted four orphans and then has to rely on “her faith and strong-willed Irish temper” to protect them in a “dangerous landscape.”
Just having Headey on board shows that the drama is in good hands. Headey was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards for her work on the fantasy series, and based on her past roles, she has a background in playing tough women who take no bullshit.
She’s also starred in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and movies like 300 and its sequel, Dredd, helped lead the Gunpowder Milkshake cast, as well as starring in The Purge, Fighting with My Family, and 9 Bullets. The actress has also voiced characters in shows like Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, along with voicing Lara in DC’s League of Super Pets cast.
In late June 2023, Variety reported that famed X-Files, The Crown, and Sex Education talent Gillian Anderson is also set to star in the series. The actress will portray one of the town's most prominent figures, Constance Van Ness, who managed to inherit her husband's mining fortune and turn it into an even bigger nest egg. Though the area is no easy place for women, her "money, charm, and ruthlessness created a network of political allies," and she values "power, wealth, and lineage" over everything else.
We don't know for sure right now how much these two characters will come into contact, but I'm very eager to see any battle of wills that might ensue from such a pairing!
It’s A Western About A Family ‘On The Fringes Of Society’ In 1850s Oregon
Fans who’ve followed along with Sutter’s series over the years will know that he loves to tell deep stories about people in desperate and dangerous situations, and his new show sounds like it will be no different. According to Tudum’s breakdown of the plot, The Abandons is a “pulse-pounding Western” that focuses on “diverse families pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon,” and:
These abandoned souls live on the fringes of society, and must unite their tribes to fight against a corrupt force of wealth and power that’s trying to drive them out of their land. The Western drama will explore the bloody consequences of fighting for one’s home as the line between survival and law is blurred.
Yeah, I’m already expecting a brutally high body count and lots of characters with a suspect sense of morality, aren’t you? Having all of this play out in the old West will likely be something that sets it apart from other current dramas where a number of beloved characters scheme and/or simply try to survive tough situations, and it could draw in fans of shows like Yellowstone (and its many spinoffs), Yellowjackets, and its eventual streaming mate, Vikings: Valhalla.
The First Season Will Have 10 Episodes
It was in October of 2022 that Variety announced that all of Sutter’s planning for his action-packed Western had come to fruition with a decently-sized 10 episode series order. This should allow for plenty of time to introduce all the players, their conflicts/moral quandaries, and give fans a rip-roaring first season to remember.
Sons Of Anarchy’s Kurt Sutter Will Act As Showrunner And Executive Produce
Variety also noted that Kurt Sutter is going to be the showrunner for his new series, along with acting as executive producer. He, of course, also created the drama, and in addition to the enduringly popular motorcycle club shows mentioned above, is also known for The Bastard Executioner, The Shield, and writing/executive producing the 2015 Jake Gyllenhaal film, Southpaw.
The Series Was Inspired By Classic TV Western Bonanza And The Origin Of The Mafia
So, where did Sutter get the idea for The Abandons? It turns out that he’d "always wanted to do a western," as he told Deadline back in November 2021, but his attempts to acquire the rights to an established property in the early days of the pandemic stalled, so he turned to creating a fully original story. Soon, he was able to merge two seemingly disparate influences, by looking to the formation of the mafia and the classic TV Western, Bonanza. As he said:
I’ve always been fascinated with the origins of La Cosa Nostra, how these Sicilian peasant families were being more than marginalized by the land barons and the aristocrats. 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…Over the pandemic, I was watching reruns of Bonanza…there’s an episode where somebody gets killed, and Hoss just wants revenge, and I mean, like, dark fucking revenge…I just realized that the Cartwrights were a bullet away from being outlaws, right? And I loved that it all came from that deep sense of loyalty to the family, the land, the town.
I don’t know about you, but it sounds like The Abandons has a great start on being lots of people’s new favorite television series whenever it finally hits Netflix!
