The Abandons. Gillian Anderson as Constance Van Ness in Episode 106 of The Abandons. Cr. Michelle Faye/Netflix 2024 ©
Both Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson star in The Abandons, a new Netflix western from Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter. After that cliffhanger ending, is the streamer planning on bringing the series back for another season?
Since its debut on December 4, The Abandons has received mixed ratings. In our 3.5/5 star review, we praised its all-star cast and performances, especially from Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson, but criticised its pacing and lacklustre character development. Reviews across the board have been average to poor. The Guardian rated it 3 stars; CBR rated it 6/10; and a particularly scathing review from The Independent wrote: “There is no excuse for this Netflix western to be this bad.”
The show faced controversy and struggles even before it aired. Of course, most notable was the departure of creator Kurt Sutter. When filming was just weeks away from wrapping, Sutter departed the project due to creative differences. Such disagreements reportedly involved everything from the format of the series — specifically episode durations — to issues with budget overruns. After Sutter departed the series, the duty fell to director and producer Otto Bathurst and co-executive producer Rob Askins to deliver the final product. Sutter had no creative input over the final cut.
The Abandons opens in the Old West in the 1850s, where we follow several outlaw groups and their spoils. It’s captured and depicted through beautiful cinematography. At its core, the show chronicles the lives of two very different families with steadfast and ardently loyal matriarchs: one family is wealthy, and the other is poor. The wealthy matriarch is Constance Van Ness (Gillian Anderson), a mother who overlooks a Washington Territory settlement, living off the fortune of her husband’s mining business, and intent on expanding it herself. She’s a family woman, but full of ambition.
The poor family is spearheaded by Fiona (Lena Headey), a European in the United States. She’s the owner of the Jasper Hollow ranch and mother of her four adopted children: Elias (Nick Robinson), Dahlia Teller (Diana Silvers), Albert Mason (Lamar Johnson), and Lilla Belle (Natalia Del Riego). Fiona was never able to conceive her own child, but still managed to build a family.
When a murder occurs, and the perpetrators stay hidden, the two families clash horns. Tensions arise, loyalty is tested, and both treachery and conspiracy run wild.
Has Netflix renewed The Abandons for season 2?
Netflix has not officially renewed The Abandons for season 2, and its prospects put it in the 50/50 territory for the reasons outlined above, with regards to its creative team departing and viewership.
Despite mixed reviews, the series has comfortably sat in the streamer’s Top 10 charts, but that alone doesn’t mean it’ll get renewed. Numerous factors go into a renewal, so let’s first take a look at its weekly top 10 performance.
In its opening four days on Netflix, The Abandons: Season 1 ranked #4 in the weekly Netflix global top 10 English series, amassing 37.0 million viewing hours and 7.3 million completed views.
Charting that opening week against some other Netflix shows, it definitely gives us reason to believe it may struggle to get renewed. Given its large budget, the only show near it in terms of its opening that was renewed was Ransom Canyon, but others around it, like The Waterfront and The Residence, which commanded bigger budgets, weren’t given season 2 renewals.
We’ll be keeping an eye on its performance in the weeks to come – stay tuned!
What to expect from The Abandons season 2.
Warning: The following section contains spoilers. Proceed with caution!
The Abandons ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. When Fiona draws Constance into the Van Ness estate, they reach a climactic confrontation. Fiona and her family and allies set the home — the Van Ness symbol of power — ablaze in an enormous inferno. The two women fight in the blaze. In the final scene, only a single black silhouette stands in front of the flames. Before fans are able to figure out who survived, the episode cuts to black. It can be interpreted as either a big cliffhanger or a deliberately ambiguous end.
It’s clear that the team behind the series see it as a story with multiple chapters. Speaking to Netflix TUDUM, executive producer Christopher Keyser explained that season 1 covers the first “Chapter” of the story, implying that there’s more story to come. “This first chapter of The Abandons is a classic American story — the frontier, two families both at war and in love with each other, [and] a battle over who owns the land and who makes the rules.”
Right now, the creative team behind the series isn’t actively exploring a story for season 2. Per the Express, according to Gillian Anderson, conversations of future stories are very much on halt. “I don’t think there will be until we know what the response is,” she said.
Would you like to see The Abandons return for another season? Tell us in the comments down below!
