The Real Reason ‘Mayans MC’ Didn’t Immediately Follow ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Series Finale

Kurt Sutter had his reasons for waiting almost four years to revisit the Sons of Anarchy franchise, and it wasn’t just because of his other FX series.

“Yeah, I planned on The Bastard Executioner bombing and only lasting a season,” the FX series creator joked during the Television Critics Association press tour Friday, when asked if he planned out the timeline between the end of the Charlie Hunnam-led drama and the debut of its upcoming spinoff Mayans MC. “All part of my big plan.”

“No, no,” he continued, as first reported by The Wrap. “You know, at Season 5, 6 or 7 [of Sons of Anarchy] we knew we wanted to continue the IP. We knew this was an idea we liked. Both [FX CEO] John Landgraf and myself knew that we didn’t want to do it on the heels of Sons and sort of cannibalize the IP. We knew we wanted to put a few years in between it. We didn’t know how that would navigate around doing another show.”

“And look, I joke about it, but the truth is things happen the way they do and enough time had passed where it made sense to now dive into this world. I didn’t have a choice it was sort of decided for me,” he joked.

The series follows Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (JD Pardo), who is fresh out of prison and a prospect in the Mayans MC charter on the California/Mexico border. Now, EZ must carve out his new identity in a town where he was once the golden boy with the American Dream in his grasp.

Also during the panel, Sutter praised co-creator Elgin James for bringing authenticity to the new series.

“I was very aware that a white guy from Jersey shouldn’t be writing a show solely that takes place in a Latino subculture and it’s not because it wasn’t politically correct,” he said. “It was about what made the most sense creatively.”

He said that when the two first met to discuss the show he knew almost immediately that he “was no longer the smartest guy at the table.”

“I do know that I have these stories that I have to tell,” James said during the panel. “I have this damage inside me that I have to get out. And I don’t want any nice people who are worried about what I’m going to do for society to tell me I can’t tell my story.”

Sutter went on to say that he never writes his characters with the idea that they are inherently bad or dangerous.

“I write them from the idea that they’re human beings with complex feelings, complex internal pressures, complex relationships,” he said.

Along with Pardo, the series also stars Edward James Olmos, Richard Cabral, Sarah Bolger, Raoul Trujillo, Michael Irby, Danny Pino, and Sons of Anarchy alum Emilio Rivera, who will be reprising his role as Marcus Alvarez, the President of the Mayans MC Oakland Charter.

Mayans MC premieres Sept. 4 at 10 p.m. ET on FX. But you can watch the premiere early on FX+.