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Why Did Netflix Cancel The Abandons?
The show was a period piece western set in the 1850s, Fiona Nolan (Headey), “a devout Irish woman, and her found family of four adult orphans, find themselves struggling against the ruthless silver mine owner Constance Van Ness (Anderson), who claims possession of their farm in the mining town of Angel’s Ridge, located in the Washington Territory.”
From that synopsis, it’s clear that The Abandons was more than just a shoot-em-up western or even Shakespearean family drama dressed up as a Western (like Yellowstone): It was a grand clash of female lioness characters, and judging from the low scores crom fans and critics alike, it sounds like Sutter was nearly as adept in realizing the characters and world of that story as he was violent bikers of Northen California. Many reviews point out that instead of a straightforward clash of for female dominance, The Abandons tried to pile on with too many supporting characters and Western tropes, while also getting lost in a lot of the side-quest storytelling Sutter got criticized for during the latter seasons of Sons of Anarchy.
“Ultimately, the biggest thing working against ‘The Abandons’ is a frustrating need to complicate its own vision,” says Hunter Ingram of The Wrap. “Constance takes a barn-burner approach to ensure the future of her family, and Fiona’s commitment to her family and farm is nothing less than a holy war. The totality of this moment for both families is enough to sustain this series, yet the show succumbs to numerous distractions within the western genre… and is otherwise saddled in the middle with filler that undermines the “mother-off” that could dominate this whole story — and give the people what they want! Letting Headey and Anderson indulge in the pitfalls that have bedeviled men in the western genre for a century is intriguing, and that excitement is sorely missed when the series overcomplicates things. By the end of seven episodes, it has diminished the blunt force of their blows when they finally get to literally and figuratively throw hands.”
