‘Mayans MC’ Creator Kurt Sutter Confirms Mostly All-New Cast

Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy and the new spin-off, Mayans MC, confirmed on June 8 at the ATX Television Festival in Austin that the new series will include mostly an all-new cast.

Sutter, who also played Big Otto on SOA, would not confirm or deny possible cameos from SOA characters who survived that series, reports Variety.

“We want to acknowledge where we came from, and those fans, and balance that with a show that’s original and different and doesn’t feel like the Latino version of Sons of Anarchy,” Sutter explained.

“It’s my job to creatively handle that balance and then Mayans can just become what it’s supposed to become,” Sutter continued, reports TV Guide. “Sons will always be there, but [Mayans MC] will no longer be the show that came from Sons of Anarchy; it will be its own thing.”

Mayans MC starts three years after the death of Charlie Hunnam’s Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy and features Emilio Rivera reprising his role as Marcus Alvarez. He will be the only lead character in the new show who appeared on the original FX fan-favorite series.

“As much as I love my Sons of Anarchy brothers, the short time I’ve been with my Mayans brothers, I’m having the time of my life,” Rivera said at the panel. “One thing Kurt told me was on Sons, he hired actors to play bada—, and here he played bada— to be bikers.”

Sutter said the contentious political climate will influence the show, which is set in a fictional California community on the U.S.-Mexico border. While the show will not be overtly political, the real world still has an impact.

“This is not a show that will deal head-on those issues, but this is a show that 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 storytelling, or it won’t be authentic,” the three-time Emmy nominee explained.

According to TV Guide, the first 13 minutes of the pilot were screened for the audience at ATX. The scenes showed new character EZ Reyes (J.D. Pardo) joining the Mayans for a dangerous ride, making it clear the show shares the explosive DNA present in SOA.

Sutter made sure to surround himself with Latino writers and producers. He understood that what made SOA work was his own background in a working class white world, so it would be important to work with people who understood the issues in the new show.

“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 met with a lot of writers of mixed race [and who were] Latino,” Sutter explained. “I met with [co-creator] Elgin James … and if you know anything about Elgin, you know he’s the real deal, and he understands the Mayans and outlaw [culture]. He understands survival. … This guy knows the life.”

Mayans MC also stars Edward James Olmos as EZ’s father, Clayron Cardenas as Angel Reyes, Sarah Bolger as Emily Thomas, Michael Irby as “Bishop” Losa and Danny Pino as Miguel Galindo. FX has not set a premiere date, but it is expected to start this fall.

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