Mayans MC season 5 spoilers follow.
The Sons of Anarchy spin-off Mayans MC went off-road for its final – and deadliest yet – fifth season on FX and Disney+.
After confirmation this would be their last outing for the Reyes brothers, the season got underway with EZ Reyes in power, meaning nothing was off the table for the Santo Padre motorcycle gang.
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Ahead of the series finale this summer, the synopsis for the last ever Mayans MC episode simply read "The end" – confirming this was indeed the last chapter for the story. And we knew even before it aired that the show's last gasp would not be an easy one.
"I wish I could tell you that there were really all these happy endings, and that everybody was just in peace and joy, at the end of it," JD Pardo, who plays EZ Reyes on the show, said.
Speaking with Collider, he added: "But we've set the stage for a dark show, an emotional show, and a show with these characters that are living in trauma. Live by the sword, die by the sword. There are some big consequences coming."
That last instalment, which aired in July, came to a dramatic and bloody conclusion, after seasons of back-and-forth over what EZ's path could be – and a string of major character deaths, from his and Angel's father to Felipe.
In that last episode, Mayans MC left nothing open-ended, with EZ meeting a similar sticky fate, while his brother Angel (Clayton Cardenas) left the club. So why did FX and those behind the scenes on Mayans MC decide to end the show here?
Why won't there be a Mayans MC season 6?
FX boss John Landgraf first announced season five would be the show's last at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. This was followed by a statement from FX Entertainment president Nick Grad, thanking the creative team, cast and crew for their efforts.
"The Mayans have battled for respect, territory and power through four intense seasons that have set the stage for an explosive fifth season that will test their very survival under EZ's newly claimed leadership," it read.
Although it feels we can't move for more cancellation news at the moment, Mayans MC was not thrown on the chopping block, despite what it might seem. The season was written as the last, hence the announcement prior to the fifth season airing.
Even before FX made the announcement, co-creator Elgin James said he had long known how Mayans MC would end – as we saw in that finale. "I know the very last shot," he told Variety at the premiere for season four in 2022. "I’m just going to say, there at least has to be one more [season]. But we know exactly where it ends and we have been headed there for a while now."
Certain elements of the storytelling at that point already felt like the show was consciously coming to an end, as EZ was forced to increasingly hard decisions between his better and baser impulses. Mayans MC was always about EZ's personal journey, much like Sons of Anarchy was about Jax's – so without him, this iteration of the biker gang universe ran out of road.
But in a television landscape where everything is ripe for a spin-off – Mayans MC itself being an example – could there be scope for another storyline to be picked up elsewhere? Possibly.
One such well could be a spin-off for the Broken Saints, the all-women biker gang, which Pardo has addressed in an interview, teasing: "You never know". He told Collider: "The Sons of Anarchy universe is monstrous. There's a lot of potential there, and more importantly, there's a huge fan base." So this might not be the end of the road after all.
Mayans MC is available on Disney+ in the UK and FX in the States.
..Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
