‘Mayans M.C.’ Season 3 Premiere Date Announced

Mayans M.C. fans won’t have to wait too much longer for new episodes of the hit Sons of Anarchy spinoff, as the Season 3 premiere date has now been announced by FX. In a tweet, the network revealed that Mayans M.C. returns on March 16. The show was created by SoA creator Kurt Sutter and first debuted in September 2018 and was quickly renewed for a second season, which premiered in September 2019. The coronavirus pandemic likely is the cause of Season 3 not having debuted in 2020, but fans are surely excited that they now know when they can expect their favorite motorcycle outlaws to return.

In a statement announcing the third season renewal for the show, FX Entertainment’s President of Original Programming Nick Goode commented on co-creator Elgin James taking over as the show’s showrunner and creative lead. “We’re happy to continue telling the story of Mayans M.C. with our partners at Fox 21 and excited that Elgin James has earned the opportunity to become the series’ showrunner,” he said. “Kurt Sutter identified and chose Elgin as his partner on the show from the outset and Elgin has been instrumental to the success of the series, leveraging his experience and creative vision to make Mayans M.C. with this incredible cast, crew and creative team.”

James’ promotion to showrunner came after FX fired Sutter over alleged creating “unacceptable conditions” on set. He previously commented on the situation by acknowledging that he could have been more present while filming but added that believes there was actually another issue that arose after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and FX along with it. Sutter sat down with Deadline to talk about what had transpired and explained that he thinks one Mayans joke, in particular, was the trigger for his firing.

“Here’s what I did wrong on the studio network side, the reason why I had to go away. It all started with a joke. And not a very good one. There was a line in the Season 2 premiere. EZ [JD Pardo] and Coco [Richard Cabral] were getting off the bus at the school where the drugs were being processed. There was supposed to be a really gnarly playground out front. Filled with debris, dangerous looking swings, sharp objects, rusty jungle gym, etc. As they exited, Coco sees EZ’s distracted and says: ‘Lighten up Boy Scout,’ and gesturing to the playground, says, ‘We’re going to Disneyland.’ EZ replies: ‘Yeah? Guess this is where Walt buried all the Jews he had killed.’ Coco comments: ‘That’s dark man…’ And exits.”

Sutter went on to say, “Although the joke came out of character and in any other environment, would have been typical of my brand of dark humor, I’m not an idiot. I knew it would ring some bells. Whether real or imagined, I was already experiencing the tightening of the noose. It was manifesting in production issues, creating more hurdles, etc. I’ve learned over the years through trial and error – a lot of error – how to push back to protect story from corporate conformity.”