![\"TBX-The-Bastard-Executioner\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/524\/2015\/05\/TBX-The-Bastard-Executioner.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nToday, FX Network announced it has ordered a 10-episode first season for \u201cThe Bastard Executioner,\u201d created by Kurt Sutter (\u201cSons of Anarchy,\u201d \u201cThe Shield\u201d).<\/p>\n
Set during the reign of Britain\u2019s King Edward I (1239-1307), the drama stars\u00a0Australian newcomer Lee Jones as Wilkin Brattle, a warrior knight whose combat experiences have damaged him spiritually and psychologically, who decides to lay down his sword forever. But, when violence returns to his life, he\u2019s forced to pick up the bloodiest sword of all.<\/p>\n
The pilot recently completed filming in Wales, where production will resume this summer before a fall premiere on FX.<\/p>\n
The cast also includes Sutter\u2019s wife (and \u201cSons\u201d star) Katey Sagal, Stephen Moyer (\u201cTrue Blood\u201d), Flora Spencer-Longhurst (\u201cUnforgiven\u201d), Sutter himself (he also had a regular role on \u201cSons of Anarchy,\u201d which he created), Darren Evans (\u201cGalavant\u201d) and guest star Matthew Rhys (FX\u2019s \u201cThe Americans\u201d).<\/p>\n
As described by Fox Television Group Chairmen and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman (whose Fox 21 TV Studios is producing with FX Productions), \u201c\u2018The Bastard Executioner,\u2019 written by Kurt and directed by the talented Paris Barclay, is dangerous, brilliant, emotional and undeniable. This is the perfect follow-up for \u2018Sons\u2019 and another huge event series for FX from Fox 21TVS and FXP. Viewers are in for a wild and spellbinding ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sutter said: \u201cI love history. I love theology. I love blood. It\u2019s been very satisfying weaving fact and fiction to create a new mythology that combines all these elements. And with this extraordinary cast \u2014 Stephen Moyer, Katey Sagal and newcomer Lee Jones \u2014 this world explodes on screen. I love working with FX and Fox21TVS. They\u2019ve been my family for 15 years. They not only tolerate me, they embrace my extremely disturbing storytelling sensibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone who saw the recently ended outlaw-biker drama \u201cSons of Anarchy\u201d \u2014 especially its staggeringly brutal last couple of seasons \u2014 knows Sutter is not exaggerating. And since the Catholic Church was inextricably woven with every facet of British and European society in the Middle Ages, it seems nearly impossible that it won\u2019t play a huge part in \u201cThe Bastard Executioner.\u201d<\/p>\n
As someone who\u2019s watched Sutter\u2019s work since he was a writer on \u201cThe Shield,\u201d and spent a lot of time with him and on the \u201cSons\u201d set, I don\u2019t know how that\u2019s going to work out.<\/p>\n
On \u201cSons,\u201d one storyline featured a shooting at a Catholic elementary school. When research revealed that this sort of thing didn\u2019t actually happen in real life in America, I got on the phone to ask Sutter about why he made this decision (keeping in mind that Catholic imagery was sprinkled around \u201cSons\u201d \u2014 and Sutter\u2019s character, jailed biker Otto Delaney, killed a nurse\u00a0by stabbing her with a crucifix <\/a>in 2014).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s his reply<\/a>:<\/p>\n I went to parochial schools. I grew up and went to all Catholic schools. That\u2019s my experience, so why not put my experience in there? I just mean in terms of how I was raised and the schools I went to.<\/p>\n I felt like, that was my experience, so I\u2019m going to put that in there. So it was a little bit different. I didn\u2019t feel like we were making a statement about the education system. Obviously, I\u2019m making a statement about the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, blah, blah, blah, but I feel like, yes, there\u2019s definitely some religious symbolism that I got to play with in there, that I felt, thematically \u2026 it has a bigger thematic impact than it did a political impact, which I think was good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And there\u2019s this Twitter exchange, regarding Sagal\u2019s character, biker matriarch Gemma:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n @Mike_landis<\/a>. look deeper. G manipulates faith. atheists should LOVE it. shows the hypocrisy \u2013 how people use god to serve a violent agenda<\/p>\n \u2014 kurt sutter (@sutterink) November 25, 2009<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n