Kurt Sutter’s “Mayans MC” series has cast Edward James Olmos in a lead role, TheWrap has confirmed.
Olmos will play Felipe Reyes, the family’s formerly strong patriarch who after years of being crushed by bullets and labor, struggles to keep his past buried and lead his own sons down a lawful and righteous path.
Olmos is a film and television veteran with a career stretching back over forty years. He is best known for his roles as Commander William Adama in “Battlestar Galactica,” Lieutenant Martin Castillo on “Miami Vice,” and Mexican Mafia leader Montoya Santana in “American Me.” He is represented by CAA.
“Mayans MC” is set in a post-Jax Teller “Sons of Anarchy” world, where E.Z. Reyes, a prospect in the Mayan MC charter on the Cali/Mexico border, struggles with his desire for vengeance against the cartel, and his need for respect from the woman he loves.
FX has ordered a pilot for the series, based on the network’s hit Charlie Hunnam-led motorcycle gang drama series. Sutter, who created the original show, co-wrote the pilot for the spinoff with Elgin James, and will also direct it.
Sutter has a long history with FX. He wrote for and eventually executive produced the gritty Michael Chiklis-led police drama “The Shield,” which ran for seven seasons before going on to create “Sons of Anarchy,” the wildly popular outlaw biker drama that also lasted seven seasons. It was the highest-rated drama series in FX Networks’ history when it went off the air in December 2014.
Sutter also created the short-lived series “The Bastard Executioner.” That series followed a medieval knight who has sworn off violence but is drawn back into bloody conflict. Sutter announced he was canceling the series in November of last year after a lukewarm critical reception and so-so ratings.