Before Taylor Sheridan built the Yellowstone empire, he wore a badge in Charming. Now, 12 years after Sons of Anarchy ended its seven-season run, FX is bringing much of its cast back together for Legends, a new meta-thriller created by Charlie Hunnam. Some outlets, including E! News, are billing the project as a Sons of Anarchy spinoff, although this is no conventional SAMCRO revival.
Charlie Hunnam reunites with Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman, Maggie Siff, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Kim Coates, and Theo Rossi. Instead of resurrecting Jax Teller and company, the actors will portray fictionalized versions of themselves at a Sons of Anarchy fan convention, where a genuine threat turns their reunion upside down. Hunnam created the series and serves as writer and executive producer.
Sheridan, who played Deputy Chief David Hale during the original show’s first two seasons, is not among the announced returning cast. Still, the reunion carries an intriguing footnote: his unhappy Sons of Anarchy exit helped steer him toward writing, years before his own Yellowstone became embroiled in a very different contractual storm involving Kevin Costner.
Taylor Sheridan Has Been on Both Sides of TV Dispute?
Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam | Credit: FX
Speaking on The Howard Stern Show, Taylor Sheridan said he was still earning scale despite the show’s success and even worked another job because his acting income wasn’t enough to support his living expenses. After Season 2, Sheridan wanted parity with supporting cast members he said were making roughly $20,000 per episode. He recalled being offered $15,000 per episode with ten episodes guaranteed instead. Sheridan walked away, and Hale was killed early in Season 3. He later called the experience both a brutal setback and a gift because it convinced him that writing offered greater control over his career.
Years later, the shoe was on the other foot. Kevin Costner’s departure from Yellowstone became tangled in disagreements over schedules, contracts and the production of Season 5. Costner maintained that he fulfilled his contractual obligations and said production delays complicated his plans for Horizon: An American Saga. Sheridan, meanwhile, said (via LA Times) lawyers becoming involved prevented direct communication and later admitted Costner’s departure “truncates the closure” of John Dutton’s story.
The circumstances were different, but both episodes underline the same unforgiving Hollywood arithmetic: even a hit can run into a brick wall when contracts and creative plans stop moving in tandem.
Sons of Anarchy and Yellowstone Both Struck Gold
Credit:- Paramount+
Taylor Sheridan’s two career-defining shows occupy different patches of American soil but share plenty of DNA. Sons of Anarchy follows Jax Teller as loyalty to his outlaw motorcycle club collides with his doubts about SAMCRO’s criminal direction. The FX drama became a critical and audience favorite, currently holding an 87% average Tomatometer and 91% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 4 even boasts a perfect 100% critics’ score.
Yellowstone trades motorcycles for horses but similarly builds its drama around family, territory and morally compromised power. Costner’s John Dutton fights to preserve his enormous Montana ranch against developers, political forces and neighboring interests. The series currently carries an 83% average Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. Legends now takes the older property somewhere neither show ventured: into its own fandom. FX describes the project as both a tribute and a reinvention, with reality beginning to blur once the reunited actors face danger beyond the convention floor.
There is no premiere date yet, but Legends is headed to FX and Hulu.
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