Like a kid taking his basketball home because you weren’t going to let him play anyway, Kurt Sutter has cancelled his medieval mess of a show, The Bastard Executioner, due to low viewership. Rather than release a barrage of tweets to that effect, Sutter made the announcement by taking out an ad in The Hollywood Reporter and other publications. In it, Sutter thanks the cast and crew, as well as FX and Fox 21, while also noting that the “meh” reaction of audiences prompted his decision. The cast and crew were notified of the cancellation before the ad ran.
Sutter explained himself further in an interview with THR, telling the publication that he’s very upset about the show’s premature end and the fact that it never really caught on with audiences the way Sons Of Anarchy had. It seems that, contrary to popular opinion, the showrunner isn’t dreaming up new (old) ways of torture purely for his own amusement.
“I don’t write in a vacuum. I’m not the guy sitting in my ivory tower spitting shit out not caring if anyone is watching. I like an audience. I don’t want to write something that nobody’s f—ing watching.”
When asked why he thought viewers failed to tune in, Sutter said there were numerous “fucking variables,” including the “glut of period pieces” that are on TV right now. He also suggested that the mythology he created surrounding a man who executes people was perhaps “too dense” for audiences to parse through. So Sutter is moving on to focus on a feature film (Delivering Gen) and another unknown project. And despite FX being “hot” for his Sons Of Anarchy spin-off, Sutter reiterated that he will only produce that show.