‘The Bastard Executioner’ canceled, Kurt Sutter confirms in ad
There’s some news breaking early this morning that we definitely did not see coming, especially in this quick a manner. In a new ad that was placed in this morning’s edition of The Hollywood Reporter, show creator Kurt Sutter confirmed that “The Bastard Executioner” is no more at FX.
So was the show really canceled, or did he decide simply to pump the brakes? Based on his comments to the publication in a lengthier interview, it seems to be mostly the case here where he realized that the show was going to be ending, and he chose to just do it in this way to ensure that a decision did not get dragged on forever:
“At the end of the day, do I have any say in [the decision]? Absolutely not. I could say to John, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore,’ and [FX would] say, ‘Well, f— you, we’ll find someone else.’ I love this show, I love the mythology, but, you know, it almost f—ing killed me. I don’t write in a vacuum. I’m not the guy sitting in my ivory tower spitting s–t out not caring if anyone is watching. I like an audience. I don’t want to write something that nobody’s f—ing watching. And yes, some of that is ego. But some of it is just, [if no one’s watching] then I’m not necessarily doing my job. John and I have been in touch the whole time, and it’s not like it had a chance and I said, ‘Let’s not take it.’ But yes, it was a mutual decision in terms of the timing of it.”
Sutter already reveals that he is pondering over his next TV project, and that he is still looking for a writer for his proposed “Sons of Anarchy” spin-off focusing on the Mayans.
As for where “The Bastard Executioner” went wrong, we think mostly that it was probably a little too complicated for most average viewers to grasp onto. Its episodes were extremely long, it took stories a while to come together, and it was also a hardcore period piece. There were some very strong stories throughout and we like the way the finale ended (it should work as an end to the series), but by that time the ratings were lower.
The one thing that does concern us here is that we don’t want to start to see FX become a place where new ideas are not cultivated and given time to find a crowd. This is why we were so happy that they renewed “Man Seeking Woman” on FXX and kept “The Americans” around.
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