20 Things To Remember About Sons Of Anarchy Before Mayans MC Starts
Jessica Cortez Quick Links
For all those Sons of Anarchy fans out there, we have good news — you've probably heard that the FX Network is rolling out Mayans MC thanks to Kurt Sutter. Now we will get the other side of the story and see what the lives of the Mayans are really about. It’s going to start a few years after the incident with Jax Teller, something we're definitely still not over. The Mayans were the rivals of the Sons of Anarchy and we are going to see things from their perspective. It’s still going to be set in California and we will see what members have to go through to get a patch.
We will get to see the morbid humor of the show’s creator as well as the opportunity to immerse ourselves into the biker world again now that our old favorite is gone. The hope is that the show will pull in record network numbers just like Sons of Anarchy did. It will be interesting to see what they do with the show because viewers have been requesting that they go as far back in the history of the Mayans as the first seasons of Sons.
Sons of Anarchy Is Not A Big Part
You would think that Sons of Anarchy would be a big part of the new show since they were rivals, but Kurt Sutter is laying to rest the club in honor of Teller’s passing. Yes, it will be there but there won’t be intersecting stories.
“There's no intersecting stories that will interfere with that, but Sons was a big world and there was a lot of peripheral energy and players and members and other charters, so there will be those kind of intersections.
We'll see those points of intersection happen throughout this season, and the series as well.”
Kurt Sutter and Charlie Hunnam Never Got Along
Hopefully for the new Mayans MC show, Sutter will be able to get along with the lead in that show because in Sons, he clashed with Hunnam. The two were passionate about the show which should have made them close, but it didn’t. There was constant tension and Hunnam said that although it never blew up, “[he] will say it got close.” But Sutter worked to improve their friendship over time. He wrote on Twitter, “I love Charlie. It’s mutual.”
The Mayans' Clubs Are Spread Out
One thing we learned while watching Sons of Anarchy is that the Mayans MC is spread out further than the Sons were. They are known to have at least four chapters that are spread out. Their main headquarters is located in Oakland where we will see Alvarez as the clubs president. Their other clubs are located in Santo Padre, Stockton, and Carson City. The spinoff series will have their central hub in Santo Padre. We will probably see all the locations working together at some point throughout the series.
They Will Pay Tribute to Sons
Who doesn’t love Easter eggs? And we will see plenty of them in the upcoming Mayans MC. The show is determined to pay tribute to Sons in small ways, even if there are going to be intersecting storylines. There is mention of a roadside memorial for Jax in the show and it’s just there with no mention of it. It’s things like that that make fans comfortable that the show will be able to handle cross-show Easter eggs. The memorial is something fans will enjoy because there are still so many unanswered questions and we wonder what happened to the club after Jax.
For the Most Part, Tattoos Are Real
Aside from the huge back tattoos that some of the Sons of Anarchy characters bore to represent the club, most of the tattoos the Sons had were real. For example, the actor David Labrava’s torso was almost completely covered in tattoos and they were real. Usual shows will paint on a ton of fake tattoos, but Sons allowed their characters to represent their own tattoos. One fake tattoo we saw throughout the show were the smiley face ones. It’s likely that the same will happen on the Mayans' spinoff show.
Katy Segal Was Chosen From the Beginning
It’s true Gemma did some awful things throughout the show, but the main thing Sutter wanted to show was how protective she was of her son and the club. She would do anything for them. That’s why Sutter thought Segal would be perfect for the role.
“If you asked him, what he would tell you probably is when he came into my life, I already had two children, and he’s their stepparent, and I was very protective of my children,"
Sagal said. "He hadn’t been around that kind of energy quite so much, so I think that’s what was the springboard for Gemma. It was not so much the awful things she does; it was that at her core, her motivation is her children, is her child. At any cost, she will protect him and her club.”
The Clubs Have Plenty of Sources of Income
Although Jax was trying to get the club out doing more harm than good, it appeared at times that he was in way over his head. When it comes to getting what they want, the Sons were not opposed to working with other clubs, even rival clubs like the Mayans. But both clubs also have no problem with being ruthless to each other if they get in the way of how they make their money. The Mayans make most of their money by breaking the law.
All the Characters are complex
Everyone can probably admit that Tig was one of the strangest characters to come out of Sons of Anarchy. He's the kind of guy that does the things no one else would want to do. The fact that he was afraid of dolls was a totally random part of the show and one we didn’t expect. The characters on the show are human which means that even though they are tough guys, they have also have fears. The fear is actually based on Kurt Sutter’s own fears. He has said he is creeped out by “dolls with life-like features” that his wife Katey Sagal has. He would “turn them the other way whenever she left the room."
The Morals Came From Tara Knowles
You got to have someone on the show that has some morals, especially when there are a lot of bad deeds going on. Maggie Siff told Entertainment Tonight that it was her character that was "the moral center of the show" for the most part.
“I think Kurt used her as a window, through which the audience could experience the club and the life of the club,” she said. “You could see her loving these people in spite of herself, in spite of knowing better.
I think she remained a moral center in that she continues to be one of the only in the world who experiences real emotional conflict around the violence and the difficulty and the pain of the life and wanting something better for her children.”
The Mayans Are More Stable
One of the problems the Sons of Anarchy faced was the fact that there were members that didn’t always agree with what Jax want to do. He was haunted by the ghost of his father and he wanted the club to get out of all the illegal operations. In the end, he met the same fate as his father. Throughout the series, the Mayans showed more stability as a group. Marcus Alvarez was the original leader and he’s still the leader. Maybe he had more loyal followers.
Central Characters May Make Appearances
Kurt Sutter is not ruling out the possibility that characters from Sons of Anarchy will make appearances in the show. He wants the Mayans MC to run on it’s on, but, considering they were rivals of Sons, someone in the rival gang has to make an appearance at some point. Charlie Hunnam has even stated that he’s willing to make an appearance as long as it’s done through a dream sequence or flashback. Aside from that, he sees no reason to become involved in the show.
Kurt Sutter is Taking A Backseat
Sons of Anarchy was Kurt Sutter’s baby and it was written while regularly attending AA meetings. When he finally got the show on the FX network, he was the producer, director, writer, and even a star of the show. But now that he is letting Mayans MC loose, he’s handing over a lot of the work. He recruited producers Norberto Barba and Elgin James to take care of production and directing. He’s more interested in the screenwriting process now.
They All Had to pretend to Know What A Biker’s Life Was Like
Pretending to be a biker on TV is a challenging task for any actor who hasn’t actually lived that life. You want things to be realistic and interesting, otherwise fans are going to walk away feeling ripped off. Also, the last thing the actors want to do is offend real MC members because that could be risky business. The actors could turn to a costar, however, to get real-life accounts of a member because David Labrava became a full-fledge member of the Hells Angels long before he was part of SoA.
Why The Mayans Were Rivals
One thing to remember about the Sons of Anarchy and the Mayans was that they were rivals. The show addressed the fact that there were race relations between the biker gangs. This is part of the reason why the gangs were rivals to begin with. The Mayans didn’t like the fact that the Sons had so much power over Charming. It isn’t until later on that the rivals put their differences aside and start working together. However, they weren’t fully able to get rid of all the tension between the groups.
Alvarez Has Real-Life Connections
We already know that David Labrava is affiliated with the Hells Angles, but Emilio Rivera also has gang connections. He used the show as a way of moving away from his past. When he was growing up in Frogtown, Los Angeles, he became part of the Frogtown Rifas which is a street gang. He has said that his life was put on the line more than once by the rival gangs. He has personal struggles and eventually, he wanted to turn his life around. He’s definitely come a long way from the life he had and he can add some authenticity to his character.
The FX Network Is Fine with controversy
As we saw with Sons of Anarchy, the FX must have been pretty comfortable with airing some outrageous things. There were some pretty surprising scenes that were violent over the seven-season run. Though Kurt Sutter told Entertainment Tonight that there was a boss at the network that had a problem with the language. He was asked to use the lord’s name in vain instead of actually swearing. But bosses seemed to be okay with the bosses at the network. So, it's likely that it will be the same for the Mayans MC.
no lack of emotional moments
Emilio has come a long way in his life, but being immersed in TV shows that directly relate to his life can make filming certain scenes difficult. Even though he’s been working in the industry for over 25 years, he still gets nervous when it comes to filming certain scenes. When Sons first aired, Rivera had one of the most difficult moments of his career on set. There was a scene where Happy and Alvarez team up to take out his son Esai. He broke down in tears after the filming and had to call his own son to check in on him.
no backing down
We saw a lot of gang-on-gang violence in Sons of Anarchy and it was very much the “ride or die” mentality. We’re likely to see the same level of loyalty in Mayans MC between gang members, but also with their faith. There is likely to be a link between the characters and their Catholic upbringing which we saw in a photo of J.D. Pardo in front of a Virgin Mary statue.
All the Characters Have Their Own Style
That was why Jax Teller was the only biker in the club that wore bright white shoes. Charlie Hunnam based his character off a real-life biker that he met. Each actor in the series is allowed to bring their own flare or personality to their role and make it their own. We will likely see the same thing when it comes to the bikers in the Mayans. The characters can bring their own flare to the motorcycles that they ride as well.
The Patches Have Meaning
All biker gangs have jackets or vests that have patches that have meaning to them. The Sons of Anarchy had meaning behind their patch and now that we are moving on to a new show, we will be seeing a lot of the Mayans' patches. The Mayans MC is “named after the ancient Mesoamerican civilization, the Mayans wear a patch of a Mayan god on their kuttes as a scary symbol of their strength as a group.” They also wear a patch that has a Spanish phrase, “Los Asesinos de Dios,” which means “assassins of God.”
References: mentalfloss.com, screenrant.com
