Kurt Sutter exits The Abandons just three weeks before production wraps

Deadline reports that Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter has exited The Abandons just three weeks before production on the first season of the Netflix series was slated to wrap. As always, the reason apparently comes down to those dreaded creative differences.

The report states that Netflix was concerned when the initial cut of the first episode came in at 1 hour and 40 minutes. It proved impossible to trim the episode down to an hour, so they decided it should be split into two. This required some additional scenes to create a cliffhanger for the new premiere, which have reportedly been written but not shot. After viewing the unfinished split episodes and part of the third, Netflix felt they “looked a bit disjointed and not propulsive enough.” A meeting between Netflix execs and Sutter to address the concerns didn’t take place before he departed.

Beyond going over budget and some alleged “friction with top talent,” the production apparently went smoothly, so Sutter’s exit from the series he created comes as a shock. Much like other streaming services, Netflix has been cutting budgets across the board. The Abandons was affected by this, with the originally announced ten episodes being cut down to eight episodes and then seven episodes. With the premiere now split in two, that count is back to eight.

The official logline for The Abandons reads: “As a group of diverse, outlier families pursue their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon, a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out.  These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back. In this bloody process, ‘justice’ is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law. The Abandons will explore that fine line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets, as this family fights to keep their land.“

“I am fascinated by the metamorphosis of good into evil,” Sutter said when production began. “What must transpire to drive the morally sound to become the dangerously corrupt. The Abandons explores those complex compromises through the most powerful human instinct — the love and protection of mothers.” The ensemble cast includes Lena Headey, Gillian Anderson, Nick Robinson, Diana Silvers,  Lamar Johnson, Natalia del Riego, Lucas Till, Aisling Franciosi, Toby Hemingway, Michael Greyeyes, Ryan Hurst, Katelyn Wells, Clayton Cardenas, Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Brían F. O’Byrne, Marc Menchaca, Patton Oswalt, Michael Ornstein, Jonathan Koensgen, Jack Doolan, Michiel Huisman, Haig Sutherland and Sarah White.