Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter says the show’s upcoming spinoff Mayans MC will address the “extreme conflict” at the U.S. Mexico border under the Trump administration.
“We never comment on it, right, but for the show to be authentic we have to address it because it’s right in our face,” Kurt Sutter said in an interview with TheWrap. “So they address the issues that they’re faced with on a daily basis in terms of legalities, and you know the extra pressure, the difficulty coming in and out — like all that stuff is real.”
Sutter went on to say that although Sons of Anarchy was not overtly political, it was heavily inspired by political and racial tensions across the country:
I equate it to this: On ‘Sons’ we never talked about the Obama administration, right? But what happened when Obama got elected was that there was a 40-something percent uptick in the enrollment in white supremacist groups, right? So when I read that I was like, ‘wow, how do we talk about this without talking about it?’ So what happened with the Aryan Brotherhood and the white supremacists became a big antagonist in the show and was inspired by the real life circumstances of the huge uptick without it ever saying it was because of Obama.
“When it comes to ‘Mayans,’ we never mention Trump,” he continued. “We never talk about politics, but we deal with the reality that is happening at the border and the circumstances and external conflicts and shit like that.”
At a TV critics meeting on Friday, Sutter also claimed he was “really proud to have a brown cast” of Latin characters, even if they are violent criminals.
“The stories that I like to tell and the characters I like to create are damaged,” he explained. “I never write these guys or these women from the point of view of them being dangerous or bad. I write them from the idea that they’re human beings with complex feelings.”
Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy cinematic universe is known for creating controversial content. Throughout the show’s seven seasons, the show involved scenes of brutal rape, self-harm, stalking, extreme violence, mental health issues, and a school shooting.
Mayans M.C. will premiere on FX on September 4th.
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