‘Sons of Anarchy’ spinoff ‘Mayans M.C.’ tackles border world
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When “Sons of Anarchy” debuted in 2008, creator Kurt Sutter repeatedly heard the same comparison: it was the poor, white working class version of the HBO mob series, “The Sopranos.”
Now that “Sons of Anarchy” spin-off “Mayans M.C.” is set to launch, Sutter says he is prepared for it to inevitably be called the Latino rendition of the popular motorcycle gang drama. “But it’s more than that,” Sutter, the new series co-creator, told The Associated Press. “My hope is that as people get plugged into it…it becomes its own thing.”
Yes, “Mayans M.C.” focuses on similar motorcycle outlaw themes of crime, contradictions and divided devotions as its artistic predecessor. Yet, it aims to tackle the conflicted world along the U.S.-Mexico border amid poverty, a drug war and populations with blurred nationalities. It’s also filled with Mesoamerican imagery, issues of ethnicity and references to the poor conditions along the border.
The FX Networks series, which debuts on Sept. 4, is set in the fictional border city of Santo Padre, California, and follows Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes, played by J.D. Pardo, a fresh-out-of-prison “prospect” for a chapter of the Mayans, a Mexican-American motorcycle club. (A prospect is a potential member who must prove himself to the others). Reyes is coming to terms with his former life as a one-time promising student at Stanford University who now is inside the world of crime and Mexican cartels.