FX has ordered Legends, a limited meta-thriller that brings the Sons of Anarchy cast back together as themselves, with Charlie Hunnam starring, creating and executive producing the series. Jonathan Groff will serve as showrunner, and Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Kim Coates and Theo Rossi are joining him.
The new series puts the reunion at a fan convention, then turns it into a story about what happens when the line between performance and real life collapses. FX said the cast’s brotherhood is tested by a real-world threat more dangerous than anything they faced in the show itself, a setup built to play like a homecoming and a trap at the same time.
That is a sharp turn for a franchise that ended in 2014 after seven seasons and was created by Kurt Sutter. The show became a ratings driver for FX, and the network later ordered Mayans M.C. in 2018, while Sutter had also talked about other offshoots, including First Nine and a sequel centered on Jax Teller’s sons, Abel and Thomas. He is not credited with any role in Legends.
Hunnam has been developing the project with FX for at least three years, which means the order lands after a long stretch in the making rather than as a quick reunion stunt. FX also said his talents are on full display as a writer, performer and executive producer, and the network is pairing the series with FX Productions and 20th Television for release on FX and Hulu.
The unanswered part is not whether the cast can sell the joke; it is what, exactly, the threat is that forces this reunion into something larger than nostalgia. For now, Legends looks like the rare follow-up that treats the history of Sons of Anarchy as both the punchline and the engine.
