Before becoming one of cable TV's most popular series, Sons of Anarchy had a few problems in getting its pilot and early episodes off the ground, and the same can coincidentally be said for the biker drama's follow-up project, tentatively called Mayans MC. First gearing up in the aftermath of The Bastard Executioner's cancellation, the Mayans MC pilot was cast and filmed in its entirety, but over the summer, the powers-that-be at FX ordered it to be recast and rewritten. Now, the recasting is finally coming together, and former Law & Order: SVU star Danny Pino has been added as a lead.
Danny Pino, who starred on SVU from Season 13 through Season 16, will join the Sons of Anarchy universe as Miguel Galindo, who is the son of the dangerous Jose Galindo, the namesake founder of the Galindo Cartel in Mexico. According to TVLine, Miguel has an advantage of having an Ivy League education, as well as a charismatic sense of humor, so he's the perfect person to handle things on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. He's achieved easy successes with both legal and illegal empires, as well as endeavors in his personal life, and so we probably shouldn't expect to see him sweat much when shit gets rough.
Sons of Anarchy fans will recognize the name of the Galindo Cartel as the one that was first introduced back in Season 4, when Danny Trejo joined the show has the high-ranking Romeo Parada (whose real role within the cartel ended up being something else entirely). Jose Galindo wasn't an on-screen character in Sons proper, so it'll be interesting to see if he shows up in Mayans MC. And if so, then we can compare Danny Pino's Miguel to see if they'll have the same kind of broken family relationship as everyone else in this franchise.
During his years on Law & Order: SVU, Danny Pino played Detective Nick Amaro, who partnered with Olivia Benson for a while and later retired from the NYPD for several reasons. (Pino also portrayed Amaro on two crossover episodes with Chicago P.D.) One of the actor's first notable roles was on The Shield, which boasted Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter as a writer, so perhaps that's where they met. As well, Pino had a lengthy run as Detective Scotty Valens on Cold Case, and has been seen in recent years on ABC's Scandal, as well as the short-lived CBS thriller BrainDead. He's also set to star in NBC's kidnapping drama Gone.
The updated version of the Mayans MC pilot will still be written by Kurt Sutter and Elgin James, with the latter set to take on showrunner duties. The previously cast stars Edward James Olmos and JD Pardo are reportedly still part of the new and growing ensemble, which also recently tapped Taken and True Detective star Michael Irby to play the leader of the Mayans charter.
We're still not sure if or when Mayans MC will extend the Sons of Anarchy franchise with a debut on FX, but considering all the work going into it, it's assumed a premiere will come one day. Until then, though, head to our fall TV premiere schedule to see everything else coming to the small screen soon.
