Starring: Gillian Anderson, Lena Headey

Director: Various
Released: 2025

Mood: If you feel like everything is getting worse and worse around the world and there’s no hope for women in business and you desperately need a story that reminds us that women can be everything from a powerful tycoon to a villain.

People really don’t like The Abandons, and I don’t get why. I feel like if it got a second season, this Netflix original could have been Western TV gold.

Well, maybe not gold. More like TV silver. Get it? Because the show is about two matriarchs battling over silver mines…

Anyway. The Abandons may be soapy, but that’s what I said about Hell on Wheels and that show was also right up my alley. It has some great stuff going for it:

• It’s about dark, devious, powerful Western families
• It hints at being an origin story for Sons of Anarchy, like 1883 was for the Duttons
• The story existed in some form by creator Kurt Sutter BEFORE he launched Sons of Anarchy, so it has appearances from several of the same actors – including the iconic Katey Sagal

The Abandons is not perfect. But it’s got amazing big-budget cinematography, two insanely powerful leads, and there are only seven episodes so it’s easily binge-able on a sick day. Which is exactly what I did.

The Abandons begins with unidentified riders attacking a ranch, setting fires and knocking down stone walls, then breaking fences to release cattle and chasing them towards the cliffs. The CGI on the fires is quite ridiculous, but the action is still exciting.

We’re introduced to two rival families, and what Western fan doesn’t love a tale of two families trying to kill one another? From the Hatfields and McCoys to the Sacketts and the Higgenses, family feuds make for delicious drama.

Constance Van Ness (Gillian Anderson) is a wealthy widow who controls the land, the law, and the people of Angel’s Ridge. She owns major silver mining operations, treats her adult children as disposable employees, and is on a mission to own the entire region. Meanwhile, her kin flail their white privilege around like a drunk swinging a broad sword in a tavern.

Fiona Nolan (Lena Headey) owns a big chunk of the silver-bearing land in Angel’s Ridge, and is another widow with a purpose – to keep her land away from Constance. Fiona’s little clan is made up of wayward souls that she’s picked up along the way, but they’re all fiercely loyal to her. For now.

Both women have secrets, including a major event in the first episode that becomes a catalyst for everything that happens later. Their families’ relationships lead to violence. Their gangs’ personal interests and loyalties make it even worse.

Constance really needs to get Fiona’s land, and Fiona will die defending it.

There’s no arguing that Gillian Anderson gives you perfection every time she’s on our screens. She seems incapable of delivering anything other than a fully realized character.

As Constance Van Ness, Anderson is cruel and calculating, and the viewer is never sure if what they’re seeing is the truth, a manipulative move, or something genuine struggling to hide behind the mask. And then you get to see her in a physical fight in the last episode, and it’s every bit as good as what she does with a single judgmental stare.

I haven’t watched Game of Thrones or 300, but I understand that people also think Lena Headey is a great actor and I really enjoyed her in The Abandons. Fiona Nolan is an unpredictable, rough-around-the-edges counterpart to the buttoned-up Constance, and Headey radiates a wildness.

I do agree with some reviewers that Fiona appears to have quite modern, recently plumped lips, but I’m never one to judge a woman for doing what makes her feel good about herself. Especially in an industry that discriminates against women over 30.

There are no terrible performances among the supporting actors, but the writing doesn’t help any of them stand out, either. This is why I think a second season would have made a big difference, allowing this show’s universe to develop to its full potential.

The character I found most interesting and who has the absolute best arc over the season, other than the matriarchs, is loner Walter Paxton (Brían F. O’Byrne). Everyone online is complaining that once they saw the dog they predicted it all, but I’m over here just seeing something sweet among the dark stories, and ugly crying over how masterfully he acted the entire last episode.

I had ZERO interest in the star-crossed-lovers storyline. I would have gladly traded it for some story about how Fiona’s crew came to be with her, especially Lilla Belle (Natalia del Riego) and Albert (Lamar Johnson). We’re shown that this group has a fierce bond, but we don’t get to see why.

At least we got to learn the origin of Fiona’s neighbour, Miles (Ryan Hurst). His character starts out as seemingly uptight and strict, and then Hurst gives him emotional depth and physicality as Miles’ past is revealed.

The Abandons feels like season three of Deadwood.

The production is absolutely on-point. The visuals are epic. There’s so much action and violence and blood and grime and it’s all so well done. But you have way too many new characters who the audience doesn’t understand, so you don’t give a crap about them just yet. You’re waiting to see how it plays out, changing alliances from episode to episode.

Then production realizes it’s getting cut off, and they have to give you SOMETHING so they condense the planned storylines into a finale. Ultimately, you’re left wishing for something more.

The difference is that Deadwood had two great seasons of developing the main characters before the unexpected cancellation happened – and we got a movie to wrap it all up. The Abandons throws a lot of plot points at the audience in a short time, without sufficient lead-up or backstory. And this isn’t Firefly, there won’t be a movie.

It’s still highly watchable though, especially for the leading women. I would totally watch it again. You can watch it just for Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey, they’re unquestionably some of the best women in Westerns. Or just kick back and enjoy some big-budget production quality that adds more to the genre.