Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
‘Sons of Anarchy’ spinoff delves into border world
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” spinoff “Mayans M.C.” is set to launch, Sutter says he is prepared for it inevitably to be called the Latino rendition of the popular motorcycle gang drama. “But it’s more than that,” says Sutter, the new series’ cocreator. “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 Tuesday, 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 MexicanAmerican 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 once-promising student at Stanford University who now is inside the world of crime and Mexican cartels.
The Mayans were the sometimes rivals, sometimes allies of the Sons of Anarchy in the original series. The creators tease that Sons of Anarchy members may make occasional cameos.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel’s butcher father, played by Edward James Olmos, serves as his adviser and sometimes confidante as the young Reyes seeks just to survive. Together the pair leads a mostly Latino cast who navigate the dark world of motorcycle gangs and tensions from immigration, cartel violence and race.
Pardo, a California-born son of an Argentine father and a Salvadoran mother, said he knew little about “Sons of Anarchy” until he heard about “Mayans M.C.” So he bingewatched the series one weekend and concluded that he wanted the lead role in “Mayans M.C.,” though he’d have to educate himself.
“It’s the writing. It’s everything,” Pardo said. “I didn’t ride motorcycles. I didn’t know anything about bike culture. For me to be able to dive in that as an artist makes me feel like such a kid.”
Sutter said the idea for the project began years ago as FX sought to find productions similar to Sons of Anarchy but geared toward the growing Spanish-speaking market in Latin America. When “Mayans M.C.” began to become a reality, Sutter said he realized immediately it needed to be different.
“I also know that a white guy from Jersey shouldn’t be writing a show about people of color on his own,” Sutter said.
Sutter soon tapped Boston-born filmmaker Elgin James to help give the show a distinct voice and a perspective from a writer of color. James, whose family background is Irish, African-American and Dominican, is a former gang member who spent a year in prison for extortion and earned acclaim for his 2011 film, “Little Birds.”
James said he wanted to utilize his experience from the gang world to shape “Mayans M.C.” characters. Once an orphan and homeless, James said he remembers how intoxicating it was be feared by flashing your gang name on hats or shirts.
“But what doesn’t change is that you’re still that little, scared kid inside,” James said.