Mayans M.C. co-creator Kurt Sutter was just as surprised with his decision to make a popular Sons of Anarchy character the center of one of the spinoff series’ key mysteries.
In the final sequence of the motorcycle drama’s first season finale, EZ (JD Pardo) came face-to-face with his mother’s killer. The moment prompted a flashback that showed EZ chasing the culprit down in a street and firing at him, then someone screams at him off the screen and he shoots.
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He ends up shooting a police officer, which would lead him to spending a decade in prison, and as he turns around, he sees the killer and it turns out to be Sons‘ Happy Lowman (David Labrava). The finale ends with present-day EZ looking at Happy, who is at a Mayans party, from afar.
Sutter opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his decision to write Happy as the killer that essentially set off EZ’s path, admitting he is not really sure where it’s all going next in season two.
In the conversation, Sutter revealed he decided to use EZ’s flashbacks as a way of revealing hidden truths that would inspire actions in the present day, which is how the big murder reveal happened.
“As we were using the flashbacks to help tell EZ’s story, I was able… to start thinking about a bigger framework for the device of the flashback, so it’s not just a narrative and expository cheat,” Sutter said. “I realized that each season, what I would like to do is have a story revealed piece by piece by piece within the framework of the flashbacks, so that by the end of the season, the memory we put together serves or in some way intersects thematically or narratively with the bigger arcs of the actual story.”
As writing for the season happened, Sutter found the opportunity to unite the world of the Sons of Anarchy and the Mayans closer through a new deal between the cartel, Los Olvidados and the club. The new deal led to his decision to tie Happy to the murder.
“I wanted it to pay off and find out who that guy was, and plug that guy into the bigger mythology,” Sutter said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be a cartel guy. Was it going to be a cop? Would it have something to do with EZ’s dad? In the shaping of the season, I realized, ‘What if we intersect with the mythology that’s already there?’ We did the historical mythology homework to realize at the time [EZ’s mom died], Happy was a Nomad. We established him as a button guy and a killer-for-hire. That piece of it worked, in terms of it not impacting the Sons mythology. He wasn’t a member of the charter at that time. He was free and clear.”
The reveal, however, does not mean that the Mayans will be heading to Charming or that Happy will be playing a huge role in season two. It simply felt like an “organic” way to intersect the two series without affecting the established mythology.
“It became this very cool kismet kind of way to intersect things,” Sutter said. “Now I just have to figure out where the f— to go with it.”
Mayans M.C. will return for its second season in 2019.
