The Abandons arrives on Netflix with the promise of a gritty, female-driven frontier drama, and in some ways it delivers exactly that. The setup is immediately compelling: Lena Headey’s Fiona Nolan leads a ragtag found family on a ranch sitting atop land coveted by Gillian Anderson’s icy matriarch Constance Van Ness. The 1850s Washington Territory setting gives the show a dusty, high-stakes atmosphere, and whenever these two leads share the screen, the tension sharpens into something genuinely captivating. Their performances are easily the series’ strongest asset; scenes between them crackle with a kind of operatic frontier hostility that makes you wish the rest of the show rose to meet their level.
But beyond the powerhouse pairing at its center, The Abandons struggles to find its footing. The writing leans hard into familiar Western tropes: rich industrialists versus resilient outcasts, land grabs, morally righteous violence, and rarely pushes those ideas into fresh territory. Supporting characters circle around the edges of the plot without gaining the depth or nuance that might have made the ensemble feel alive. You can sense that there was ambition here, particularly in the themes of motherhood, chosen family, and survival, but they don’t always get the space they need to breathe.
Some of that unevenness may come from the production turbulence behind the scenes. Kurt Sutter’s departure mid-process and the trimmed episode count are hard to ignore when the pacing feels rushed in one moment and oddly stretched in another. Scenes that should land emotionally sometimes feel abruptly edited, as if remnants of a longer, more fully realized version of the show were shaved down to fit new constraints.
Visually, The Abandons is competent but not quite immersive. The Alberta landscapes provide a rugged backdrop, yet the series doesn’t always capitalize on its setting to build the atmospheric density you’d expect from a frontier epic. Instead, it often defaults to close-quarters drama that can feel claustrophobic rather than textured.
Still, the show isn’t without merit. When it leans into raw emotion or simply lets Headey and Anderson chew through their bitter rivalry, it becomes something undeniably watchable. There are flashes of intensity that hint at the series The Abandons could have been: a sharper, more layered Western with something new to say.
As it stands, it’s a decent but very uneven ride. Fans of frontier dramas and strong lead performances will find enough to keep them invested, but viewers looking for a fully polished or innovative Western may walk away wanting. It’s a show with sparks, just not quite enough fire to burn as brightly as its premise suggests.
The Abandons is now available on Netflix.
