To Make ‘Mayans M.C.’ Kurt Sutter First Had To Learn To Let Go

Ten years ago Kurt Sutter and FX introduced the world to the drama and camaraderie of a club of bikers in Charming, California. Now the showrunner responsible for the iconic Jax Teller has completed the first season of his antihero-fueled second act. Ahead of Mayans M.C.‘s finale, Sutter spoke to Decider about what he’s learned to make him a better showrunner since the first season of Sons of Anarchy and the big character change that surprised the Mayans M.C. writers’ room.

Sons of Anarchy first premiered on September 3, 2008. The gritty drama quickly became one of FX’s most popular shows, attracting an audience that loved the series both for its unflinching look at darkness and embrace of brotherhood. SOA‘s first season was an early win for Sutter, but it took him a while to realize how he could make the series better than he imagined.

“I would come in each season (of Sons of Anarchy) with a sense of, really a blueprint of, where I wanted to go — some of the bigger mile markers, a sense of of where I wanted it to end. And then I’d sit down with our writers and we’d figure out the stories and episodes that get us there,” he said. “What I learned on Sons, you know over time, was that the looser that I gripped those ideas, the better the show was.”

“Ultimately I usually got to the place I wanted to. I just got there in a way I never expected to,” he said. “And not only did that make the show better but as an artist, as a writer, it just made the process that much more interesting, right? And ultimately I feel more organic.”

That more relaxed approach to his show’s creative direction has influenced Mayans M.C. in a major way. Created by Sutter and Elgin James, the spin-off series is set after the events of Sons of Anarchy and follows SAMCRO’s sometimes rival, sometimes ally the Mayans Motorcycle Club. The series primarily follows EZ Reyes (JD Pardo), a new prospect for the club who served time after killing a cop. As EZ figures out exactly what kind of life he wants to lead outside of prison, the world around him collapses as the Mayans are pulled into a war between the Galindo cartel and the rebel forces that want to bring this crime family down.

In the creator’s original version the relationship between EZ’s brother Angel (Clayton Cardenas) and the Mayans’ least predictable member Coco (Richard Cabral) was supposed to serve as a source of dark humor for the series. That is certainly evident in first couple episodes which often feature Coco’s silly one-liners breaking up the story’s tension. But as the series progressed Sutter was impressed with the level of depth and authenticity both Cardenas and Cabral brought to their roles.

“The whole dynamic with [Coco’s] daughter came into play. And I had two actors that could make something that might feel more dramatic and over-the-top in the hands of somebody else, [it] becomes really powerful and touching and revelatory, right?” Sutter said.

Changing Coco to be a more serious character also affected EZ’s ultimate arc this season. Sutter describes all of Season 1 as EZ slowly realizing that everything he thought about who is he and where he belongs may be wrong.  As Sutter describes it, EZ is supposed to come to terms with the fact that his original plans for his life may be a misinterpretation. This ultimately leads to him re-examining his role as a member of the Mayans.

“I originally thought that those lessons would come from Adelita (Carla Baratta) who had experienced that,” Sutter said. Adelita stands as the leader of the rebel forces, a path show chose after the Galindo cartel murdered her family. EZ looking to Adelita as his guide makes a certain amount of sense. Both characters are defined by the tragic loss of a parent, and both are looking for vengeance. But instead of this kindred spirit it was Coco that became EZ’s grounding guide into this world.

“Through story it became difficult to connect [EZ and Adelita] in a way where they would have the time and the depth and the connection to establish that trust. So ultimately that ended up happening through Coco’s character,” Sutter said. “I never anticipated that Coco is the guy who gives EZ these potent life lessons while they’re fucking smoking weed over his dead mother, right?”

“Those opportunities sort of reveal themselves when you stay in the process and you keep things authentic and trust the people you’re working with. You can have those reveals that once they’re down and you look at them you realize, ‘Oh that’s the only way it could have happened,'” he said.

The finale of Mayans M.C. premieres on FX tonight, Tuesday, November 6 at 10/9c.

Where to watch Mayans M.C.