Kurt Sutter announced on Wednesday that he’s pulled the plug and cancelled The Bastard Executioner after only one season on FX…
The Bastard Executioner has officially come to an end after one season on FX.
Creator Kurt Sutter made the announcement on Wednesday following a tough season for the freshman period drama that saw ratings tick down each week on air leading all the way to the series finale on Tuesday night.
“The audience has spoken and unfortunately the word is ‘meh’,” Sutter wrote. “So with due respect, we bring our mythology to an epic and fiery close.”
The Bastard Executioner was Sutter’s follow up to the hugely successful outlaw biker drama Sons of Anarchy that ended up being the most watched TV series in FX history by the time the show wrapped after seven seasons.
Before Sons of Anarchy had even ended, Sutter already began work on The Bastard Executioner with casting and location scouts before the show debuted almost exactly one year later.
Sutter says that he knew the writing was on the wall after a few weeks on air and rather than continue to make a show that no one appeared to be watching, he opted to pull the plug and move onto something new.
“I don’t write in a vacuum,” Sutter said. “I’m not the guy sitting in my ivory tower spitting shit out not caring if anyone is watching. I like an audience. I don’t want to write something that nobody’s f—ing watching. And yes, some of that is ego. But some of it is just, [if no one’s watching] then I’m not necessarily doing my job. John (Landgraf, FX president) and I have been in touch the whole time, and it’s not like it had a chance and I said, “Let’s not take it.” But yes, it was a mutual decision in terms of the timing of it.
“First, I’m so OCD, it’s hard for me to begin something new if something else is still dangling. It’s almost like, I had to clean up, put it away and say, “Thank you very much, this was fun.” But, also, I didn’t want to string the cast along. I just think it’s unfair when that happens, when people don’t find out for another three months whether they have a job in May. To me, the way we are handling it — in terms of, is it going to happen? Is it going to work? Let’s figure it out, give me a yes or no — is the way it should be done.”
Sutter has already started working on his next couple of ideas including a movie as well as finding a writer for his Sons of Anarchy spinoff about the Mayans motorcycle club that was created as part of the mythology of that show. He also has another idea that he’s started writing as well but right now it’s still in the developmental stage.
And it’s not a period piece.
“I think [FX is] really hot on the Mayans thing. That’s not something I would write, it’s something I would produce. So we’re still looking for the right writer for that. I think that’ll be something that I’ll spend some time and energy on. And then there are two or three other things. I have my movie, Delivering Gen, that I want to do. I have a meeting with [Cross Creek’s] Brian Oliver, and I want to try to get that happening. And then there are two other TV ideas I’ve been playing with. I actually ended up doing a rough draft of a script,” Sutter said.
“I can’t tell you yet. Nobody knows! It’s contemporary, I’ll tell you that. And there are no horses involved.”
If you’d like to find out how The Bastard Executioner came to an end, read our recap of the series finale from Tuesday night’s episode.
