Kurt Sutter – Picture: Getty Images
Hoping to compete with the likes of Yellowstone, 1883, and pick up the mantel from Longmire, Netflix is teaming up with Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter in an instant series deal for a new show called The Abandons. The series will be set in the 1850 US, the Wild West. Production has been delayed due to the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike.
First announced in November 2021, The Abandons will have Kurt Sutter as its showrunner and executive producer. He spoke about the series a year ago then:
“I’ve always wanted to do a western, even before Sons, and then Deadwood came out, There’s that great lore of Ian Anderson wanting to be a great rock guitarist, and he saw Clapton play, and he said, ‘F*ck, I’m going to become the best rock flautist that ever lived.’ And he did just that for Jethro Tull. This is how I felt when I saw Deadwood. I said, ‘Let me stick to the crime genre” and then used just about every actor that was on that show. But I do love the genre, and over the pandemic, I tried to get a western IP.”
It marks Sutter’s second project at Netflix, as he also has a feature film, This Beast, about a trapper’s battle with an elusive beast ravaging an 18th-century English village. The series will be produced by Sutter’s company SutterInk.
This fits in a booming and under-tapped genre, particularly on Netflix. The Taylor Sheridan universe is one of the most prized possessions of Paramounts current lineup, and Longmire (a Netflix show) is regularly seen in the Nielsen top 10s.
Here’s everything else we know about The Abandons:
What’s the plot of The Abandons?
Here’s the plot synopsis for Netflix’s The Abandons:
The Abandons follows a group of diverse, outlier families pursuing their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon when a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries 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. 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 spoke about his fascination with the subject:
“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.
That was an actual term of the period where it was this kind of catchall phrase that described the outliers, the orphans, the prostitutes, the cripples, the bastards — basically the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society. That is my favorite neighborhood. We are on the Western Frontier, somewhere between the Dakotas and California, small cattle town, circa 1850. So, it’s post-Gold Rush, pre-Civil War, and then, some natural resource is discovered.”
Sutter then detailed what the first season will be about:
“That whole first season will be about the evolution of them as, you know, turning into outlaws, in a period before all the iconic outlaws that we know, like Jesse James and Billy the Kid. All those cats didn’t happen until after the Civil War, but the Pinkertons were around, so you know there were 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. And it helps me avoid the gunfights in the street and experience the Western while I get to lean away from some of the expected tropes.”
Who is cast in The Abandons?
Lena Headey – Picture courtesy of Netflix
As of March 2023, only one cast member has been announced thus far with that being Lena Headey (Game of Thrones, Masters of the Universe: Revelation)
Headey will be playing Fiona described as a “strong, devout matriarch who, unable to have her own children, took in four orphans to create her own family. Driven by a higher purpose – and a strong-willed Irish temper – her faith and love for her family trump all.”
What’s the production status of The Abandons?
Official Production Status: Delayed (Last Updated: 20/07/2023)
Filming was previously scheduled to run from August 14th, 2023 until January 15th, 2024. However, thanks to the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike production is officially delayed.
It’s unknown when production resume.
Filming is expected to occur in Oregon, United States, and in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
How many episodes will be in The Abandons?
It has been confirmed by Deadline that Netflix’s The Abandons will have 10 one-hour episodes.
What’s the Netflix release date for The Abandons?
Considering filming is expected to take place until late 2023, there is no chance we’ll the series on Netflix this year. We would expect to see The Abandons on Netflix sometime in 2024.
Are you looking forward to watching The Abdandons on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!