Lena Headey to Topline Kurt Sutter’s Netflix Western ‘The Abandons’

Game of Thrones star Lena Headey is headed west — specifically, to the Oregon of the 1850s — for her next TV series.

Headey will star in The Abandons, a western from Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter. The show, which received a straight-to-series order in October 2022, follows a group of outlier families in 1850s Oregon who “pursue their Manifest Destiny [while] a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out,” per the show’s description.

Headey, who earned five Emmy nominations for her role as Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones, will play Fiona, the head of an adoptive family. The character description reads, “a strong, devout matriarch who, unable to have her own children, took in four orphans to create her own family. Driven by a higher purpose — and a strong-willed Irish temper — her faith and love for her family trump all.”

The Abandons is Sutter’s first series since he was fired from FX’s Sons of Anarchy spinoff Mayans MC in 2019 for being, in his words, an “abrasive dick” on set. As THR reported at the time, Sutter was dismissed from Mayans, which he co-created with Elgin James, after “multiple complaints” about his behavior.

Sutter will serve as showrunner on The Abandons and executive produces with Stephen Surjik and Otto Bathurst, who are both set to direct episodes, and Emmy Grinwis.

Headey will next be seen in HBO’s White House Plumbers as Dorothy Hunt, the wife of Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson). She’s also attached to Spectrum and AMC’s sci-fi drama Beacon 23; other recent credits include Netflix’s feature Gunpowder Milkshake and voice work on The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, DC League of Super-Pets and Infinity Train.