Rev up the Harley's Sons Of Anarchy fans as the new spin-off series, Mayans MC, just found its leading man. The FX series has selected JD Pardo to headline the series. As such, he'll be playing Ezekial "EZ" Reyes. Pardo will take the reigns of the series much like Charlie Hunnam did when the original show first started way back in 2008. The news comes as the spin-off series, which takes place on the California/Mexico border, has started going hard on the casting news this week.
EZ Reyes is described as a fresh prospect from the Mayans MC charter whose American dreams were destroyed by the Mexican cartel. Driven by romance and vengence, EZ is said to be heading down a path much darker than he ever intended his life to be. The casting of JD Pardo comes just days before production is supposed to start per Deadline, and on the same day as Mayans announced the casting of another actor on the series, John Ortiz. Ortiz is set to play head of the Mayans Esai "Taino" Osorio, and will oversee the actions of his club as well as EZ.
If you haven't been keeping up with casting, JD Pardo is also joined by acting legend Edward James Olmos, who will play EZ Reyes' father Felipe. Felipe Reyes is described as the patriarch of the Reyes family who has long struggled to keep his violent past out of his family life in order to lead his sons down a righteous path. Obviously, EZ's decision to take vengeance likely won't play well with his peacekeeping father, so I'm guessing the two will be having a showdown sooner than later during the series. While it's hard to put yourself up there with the accolades of Edward James Olmos, it's worth noting that while he isn't as well known, JD Pardo is no rookie to television drama.
While you might know the actor from his stint on NBC's Revolution, JD Pardo has also appeared in quite a few other television series throughout the years. In that series, Pardo played Jason Neville, the son major character Tom Neville. While he has shared the spotlight, nothing Pardo has ever done has placed him in a star role so Mayans will be a real coming out party even after over a decade of television appearances. As mentioned previously, he has a lot of support already with a strong cast and, of course, the Sons Of Anarchy banner waving above the series.
Again, JD Pardo will have a great new cast to back him up, as well as some returning Sons of Anarchy characters including Marcus Alvarez to the series. We got a list of people we'd like to see return that you can check out right here, and get ready to ride as Mayans MC is set to start production in March! We're still not going to see that series for a bit though, so maybe hop off your Harley for a bit and check out our midseason premiere guide to find a show to watch until then.
