The upcoming second season of ‘Mayans M.C.’ will further connect to ‘Sons of Anarchy’ with even more possible crossovers in the future…
When ‘Mayans M.C.’ first launched a year ago, co-creator Kurt Sutter stated that he didn’t want to ruin the mythology that he had created for seven seasons on ‘Sons of Anarchy’ despite the two shows being so closely intertwined.
Sutter stuck to his guns for the most part but he still found creative ways to blend the two worlds together because without ‘Sons of Anarchy’ there would be no ‘Mayans M.C.’.
Beyond the appearance of Emilio Rivera as Marcus Alvarez — a role he played for all seven seasons on ‘Sons of Anarchy’ — the new spinoff series also featured an early cameo by Sutter’s real life wife Katey Sagal in a brief flashback playing Gemma Teller and the season finale ended with a massive cliffhanger as Happy Lowman (played by David Labrava) made an appearance and it was revealed that he was involved in the murder of EZ and Angel Reyes’ mother several years earlier.
Happy was a recurring character throughout ‘Sons of Anarchy’ including his time as ‘Sergeant of Arms’ during Jax Teller’s presidency.
The mystery behind Happy’s involvement in the murder of the Reyes’ matriarch will serve as a major plot point during ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 with Labrava spending a lot of time with the charter along the southern California border.
“So Happy dies in episode 3,” ‘Mayans M.C.’ co-creator Elgin James joked when asked by EW if he was going to whack any legacy characters from ‘Sons of Anarchy’. “Working with D.L. has been amazing, you’re going to see a lot of Happy this season because there’s a lot of stuff to unpack.
“I can’t say where it ends because we’re still figuring it out, but you can expect to spend a lot of time with the character this season.”
Another past ‘Sons of Anarchy’ character who played a major role in ‘Mayans M.C.’ season one was Assistant U.S. Attorney Lincoln Potter, who was a thorn in the side of the M.C. in Charming throughout season 4 of the FX series. Potter returned during ‘Mayans M.C.’ season one as he plotted against the Galindo cartel and it was revealed he was pulling the strings on EZ Reyes after he turned informant in a deal to be released from prison.
Potter later changed the rules when he decided to team up with Galindo while using EZ and his brother to handle some dirty work for him towards the end of the season. Potter will be a major presence on ‘Mayans M.C.’ when season 2 debuts on Sept. 3 and his hands will only get dirtier as he sinks his teeth deeper and deeper into the Reyes’ brothers.
“He’s always going to be an agent of chaos,” James said about Potter. “He’s always going to come with his little whirlwind, and he still has a hold over the boys. He still has a hold over the brothers, and he’s not done with the Reyes’.
“Lincoln has it coming, right? A lot of people have it coming, and I’ll tell you what, last season was about secrets. This season is about retribution. And as Malcolm X says, ‘The chickens come home to roost.’ But it may be on some people who might surprise you, not the ones you’re rooting to get theirs.”
There will also be a couple of legacy ‘Sons of Anarchy’ members talked about in the ‘Mayans M.C’ season 2 debut that could set up further crossovers for the future. Sutter admits it would be disingenuous to the story he wrote for ‘Sons of Anarchy’ not to intercede with what’s happening in ‘Mayans M.C.’ considering those two worlds were so closely connected with the original series ended in 2014.
“I find what you’ll ultimately continue to see is, especially towards the end [of Sons of Anarchy], as Jax was sort of laying down the law in terms of what he wanted the club to do, and one of the things was handing off the guns to Alvarez. We’ll continue to see that play out,” Sutter explains. “I’d like to think that there is continuity between worlds. I don’t know if there’s any other [connection] than more towards the end of Sons to what they’re doing [now], but I’m sure there are some that I’m not even aware of.”
One character who has not been mentioned yet but had very close ties to the Mayans on ‘Sons of Anarchy’ was part-time pimp/part time gangster Nero Padilla, played by Jimmy Smits. While he hasn’t been offered a cameo role on ‘Mayans M.C.’, Smits said recently that he would love the opportunity to return to that character if Sutter would have him again.
“Kurt is very into the lore of the show in terms of the Sons and its influence [on Mayans],” Smits said. “I would absolutely love to come back into that world. Sure, I can pop in! It’s really up to them, so we’ll see. They’re doing a great job. I was surprised to see as many of the Sons characters making little appearances on Mayans. I’ve been watching the show, I love it.”
The only problem with revisiting Smit’s character as Nero would be the possibility of then exploring what happened to Jax Teller’s sons because at the end of ‘Sons of Anarchy’, he left Charming alongside Jax’s ex Wendy and the two boys. Nero was ready to start a new life on his uncle’s farm while helping to raise Jax Teller’s sons far away from the life of crime their father led.
“We bring it up a lot in the writers’ room, about bringing Nero back,” James said. “I think the only problem with that is that his appearance will bring up the topic of Jax’s kids. So there’s more to unpack there in the mythology as to where they are now. Every time we go there, Kurt reacts but then he sidesteps.
“It’s not off the table, and I’d love to work with [Jimmy.] When we consider bringing someone back, we have to think about the ripple effect it’ll cause and what it all means. I think Kurt wants people to remember that for what it was. Jax for what it was. And in your memory or your imagination, it could be whatever you want it to be.”
It’s hard to imagine there won’t be at least a few surprises during ‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 in regards to crossover elements with ‘Sons of Anarchy’, especially considering neither Lincoln Potter nor Happy Lowman were even teased to appear last year. Sutter loves to keep fans guessing so it’s entirely possible that another major crossover is already planned but he’s not letting the cat out of the bag yet until the episodes begin airing on FX in September.
‘Mayans M.C.’ season 2 debuts on Tuesday night, September 3 at 10 p.m. ET on FX.
