‘Mayans MC’ Creator Kurt Sutter Says Show Won’t Steer Away From Politics

Kurt Sutter has never been one to shy away from political issues in the past. Based on information he gave at the ATX Television Festival on Friday, neither will his new show Mayans MC, Variety reports.

The show, which is a spin-off of another Sutter series in Sons of Anarchy, centers around a Latin American motorcycle gang — The Mayans Motorcycle Club — as they operate on the border of southern California and Mexico.

Sutter said while the show will not be an outright political show, it will address present day issues surrounding the border.

“It’s not a political show, I do not write political shows, I should not write political shows, but, the same way Sons was a fictitious club and family in a real world, the real world always impacted that show,” Sutter said. “So, 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 story picks up almost three years after SAMCRO leader Jax Teller took his last ride on the series finale of Sons of Anarchy. Sutter said the show will address the fallout from Teller’s actions and club decisions early on.

“It’s a post-Jax Teller world. We talk a little about the ramifications of that final day with Jax that changed the fabric of northern California, and trickled down south,” Sutter said.

The point-of-view character for the new series will be Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (played by J.D. Pardo), the latest prospect for the Mayans.

Sutter said one of his first steps during pre-production was hiring Elgin James to help flesh out the world the show will take place in. James is a mixed-raced writer who was a former member of a Boston-area gang known as the FSU (Friends Stand United).

“When you’re a kid, doesn’t matter what culture you are, and you’re kind of disregarded and diminished, you want a family, and you want to be seen,” James said while at the ATX Festival. “There’s certain ways to go about that, and the quickest one is obviously crime. We’ve done the same thing here.”

One character making the jump from SOA to Mayans MC is Mayans president Marcus Alvarez, played by Emilio Rivera.

“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 event.

Mayans MC premiers on FX in Fall 2018.