A new Western drama is a huge success on Netflix, despite only getting a 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The Abandons is an American Western action drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for Netflix. It stars Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson in the main roles, supported by Nick Robinson, Diana Silvers, Aisling Franciosi and Lucas Till.

Set in Washington Territory in the 1850s, the series centres on the matriarchs of two very different families — one of wealth and privilege bound by blood, the other a found family of orphans and outcasts bound by love and necessity. The two women (Headey and Anderson) find their fates linked by crimes, secrets, love, and land with silver underneath. The collision “echoes the American struggle of the haves and have-nots, in a place just beyond the reach of justice”. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 30% approval rating based on 40 critic reviews. The website’s critics consensus reads: “The Abandons may wield powerful lead performers, but the flimsiness of its characters, lack of originality, and ultimately fervorless material make for a lacklustre experience.” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the series a score of 43 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating “mixed or average” reviews.

But despite this, fans are loving it and it’s among Netflix’s most-watched. One said on X (formerly Twitter): “Watching The Abandons. Feeling all the angry emotions. First episode [is] excellent!”

Another said: “Absolutely LOVE The Abandons on Netflix.” A third said: “Nothing will ever come close to Deadwood on HBO, but The Abandons is scratching my western itch right now.” One viewer said: “I binged the whole season already and LOVED it! I was SO GOOD! It needs to get a season two!!”

Executive producer Christopher Keyser said of the series: “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. 

“In the middle of murder and revenge and a bit of illicit romance, we get to explore questions we never seem to get away from: What makes a family? How do you stay good in a bad world? And would you change who you are and what you believe in to protect what you love? 

“But in this case, we do it all through the eyes of Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson, as two widowed matriarchs battling to survive. And that… is really something to watch.”

The Abandons was conceived by Kurt Sutter some time before the creation of Sons of Anarchy, a series which starred Charlie Hunnam and ran from 2008 to 2014. 

It followed the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California’s Central Valley. The Abandons may be a prequel to Sons of Anarchy, with links hinted at by the main characters’ last name “Teller”. 

Sons of Anarchy received very favourable reviews over the course of its run, with many singling out Katey Sagal’s performance. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an average rating of 87%, with a score of 7.9/10.