Axed: The Bastard Executioner

Kurt Sutter has announced that he is ending The Bastard Executioner after just one season.

The FX period drama, which starred Australian actor Lee Jones (Home and Away, Magical Tales), did not attract sufficient ratings.

It debuted in September to around four million US viewers but lost roughly half of its audience within six weeks.

“The audience has spoken and unfortunately the word is ‘meh.’ So with due respect, we bring our mythology to an epic and fiery close,” he said in an ad that appeared in outlets including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

“I don’t want to write something that nobody’s [expletive] watching,” he reportedly said.

The decision to end the show was made in consultation with John Landgraf, the chief executive of FX Networks, but the timing and delivery of the cancellation announcement was Sutter’s call, NY Times notes.

Kurt Sutter is developing a Sons of Anarchy spinoff about the Mayans, a rival gang in the show, among other projects.