Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: Kurt Sutter, mayans mc, sons of anarchy, the abandons

The Abandons: SOA Creator Kurt Sutter Reportedly Exits Netflix Series

Reports are Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy, Mayans MC) has exited his Netflix western series The Abandons only weeks before filming wraps.

Though production on Netflix's Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson-starring western The Abandons is set to wrap in the next three weeks, series creator, showrunner, and executive producer Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy, Mayans MC) has exited the project and will no longer be an active part of the production moving forward. Though representatives for Netflix and Sutter wouldn't comment, Deadline Hollywood reported the news exclusively earlier today, with executive producer/director Otto Bathurst and co-executive producer Rob Askins taking over what remains of the shoot as well as reshoots – with no showrunner expected to be named.

While both sides will most likely have their own respective take on what went down, DH reports that Netflix and Sutter hit an impasse over the creative direction of the series – with the opening episode being a major focus. Reportedly, the Sutter-written and Bathurst-directed episode logged in at 1 hour 40 minutes and would've been "impossible" to edit down to a single hour. Instead, the call was made to split the episode into two – requiring additional scenes to be written and filmed to have a flow between the ending of what would now be the opening episode and the opening to the second episode.

The report adds that those additional scenes are written but not filmed – and that the streaming service made the decision to part ways with Sutter "after they have seen the unfinished, newly split first two episodes and part of Episode 3" (with the report adding from sources that "there wasn't a meeting between the streamer's top brass and Sutter for him to address the concerns"). It's also reported that the production went over budget, with a day of filming on the Sutter-penned finale shaved off to make up for the financial hit. The report comes five years after the news broke that Sutter had been fired from his role as co-showrunner heading into the third season of the Sons of Anarchy spinoff series Mayans MC – with co-creator Elgin James taking over as the lone showrunner.

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