Kurt Sutter has walked off into the sunset, leaving everyone in the dust following his abrupt departure from The Abandons three weeks before filming on the Netflix series is scheduled to be completed. In addition to The Abandons, Sutter is, of course, the famed creator behind the hugely successful series Sons of Anarchy (in which he also played Otto Delaney), its spin-off, Mayans M.C., and the short-lived historical drama The Bastard Executioner.
A new report from Deadline details Sutter’s exit from The Abandons, citing creative differences with Netflix as the cause for his departure. Apparently, the majority of issues stemmed from the series’ first episode, which came with a massive 100-minute runtime. As such, the decision was made to splice it into two smaller episodes, leading to the need to shoot additional scenes to bookend the pair and give the ending of the first one a cliffhanger leading into its followup. While those scenes have been written, they have yet to be filmed, and though Netflix has seen those first two episodes and some of the third, they were not happy with where the cuts were made. Executive producer/director Otto Bathurst and co-exec producer Rob Askins will oversee the re-shoots and the remainder of filming, as at this point bringing on another showrunner would be pointless given the fact that there is so little time remaining in the production.
The Abandons features an ensemble cast including Lena Headey, Gillian Anderson, Patton Oswalt, Lucas Till, and Ryan Hurst. Netflix ordered the series in 2022 following their hunt for a Western epic that might help them compete with the likes of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone. Set in the 1850s, the series explores a breadth of themes, including class warfare, familial bonds, and survival. Check out the full synopsis below.
“Fiona Nolan, a devout Irish woman who is incapable of conceiving a child, tries to build a family by adopting four orphans believing in higher purpose of her acts. She soon finds herself struggling against European aristocrats claiming possession of her recently acquired home in Oregon.”
What Kurt Sutter’s Exit Means for The Abandons
Originally set to be a 10-episode series, The Abandons‘ budget continued to balloon over time, and that count was trimmed down to eight due to the streamer’s commitment to cut costs across its entire landscape. The episode order was further reduced to seven, no doubt adding to Sutter’s frustrations with those holding the purse strings. With the decision to split the first one in half, the series now sits at eight episodes in total. It’s enough to give you whiplash, isn’t it?
With the majority of filming already in the can, it’s doubtful that Sutter’s exit will have much of an impact on the overall quality of the show, as he was there to oversee most of it. That being said, with the production at first believed to have more time to explore its various plot points, and then see-sawing back and forth between episode counts, it doesn’t exactly give us hope that The Abandons will match Sutter’s original vision for the series.
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No firm release date has been set for The Abandons, but it is expected to debut at some point in the second quarter of 2025 following its post-production, which is slated to begin after the series finishes shooting in Calgary later this month.