The Wild West gets a bit wilder in The Abandons, streaming now, which has wrangled together an all-star ensemble cast led by Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and Gillian Anderson (Sex Education, The Crown, The X-Files) as two mothers locked in a bitter, bloody feud.
Executive produced by Christopher Keyser (The Society) and Craig Yahata (Sons of Anarchy, Fargo), The Abandons concerns a found family of outcasts and orphans — led by fiercely protective matriarch Fiona Nolan (Headey) — who band together to defend their land and each other from the ruthless Van Ness mining dynasty, headed by the formidable Constance Van Ness (Anderson). As these two powerful women wage war for land and legacy, the series will explore the jagged line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets as a makeshift family battles to keep what’s theirs.
Keep reading for more about the cast members who’ve hitched their wagons to this pulse-pounding Western and everything we know about their characters so far.
The Abandons is streaming now, only on Netflix.
Fiona Nolan is the fierce, faith-driven matriarch of the family she’s brought together, consisting of abandoned souls on the fringes of society. She refuses to let the powerful Van Ness family drive them from the cattle ranch she built in silver-rich Jasper Hollow. Both nurturer and warrior, Fiona leads her adopted children — Elias (Nick Robinson), Dahlia (Diana Silvers), Albert (Lamar Johnson), and Lilla Belle (Natalia Del Riego) with a moral authority that commands loyalty, even when her choices carry devastating consequences.
“Fiona stands up for people for whom no one else would take a stand,” says Keyser. “She's created a family out of nothing and taking care of people who needed to be taken care of. She's defending her right to something that she actually owns.”
From Headey’s point of view, that same determination comes with a deeper complication. “Fiona can always, always, always relieve her guilt by saying it was of God’s making or [it was] God’s instruction, until she can’t get away with that anymore,” the actor tells Tudum.
Game of Thrones, The Remains of the Day, 300
Squaring up against Fiona is Constance, a very different iron-willed matriarch who will stop at nothing to protect and grow the mining fortune she inherited from her husband and then doubled. She aims to consolidate the Van Ness clan’s power in the ruthless, unforgiving frontier, and no challenge to her ambitions — especially from Fiona and her family — will go unchecked.
While it’s easy to see Constance and the Van Nesses as the unquestionable villains of the series, things are always more complicated. “[The Van Nesses] do things that are unacceptable, that they have the power to do, but not the right to do,” says Keyser. “On the other hand, I think that Constance has a pretty strong argument that the good of the whole of the community requires some compromise over the land that the Abandons sit on.”
Anderson builds on that idea, giving insight into what drives her character. “Constance believes she really has a righteous pursuit, and her righteous pursuit is as committed and as heartfelt as Fiona’s righteous religious pursuit,” the actor tells Tudum. “Constance really believes she’s doing the right thing for the advancement of humankind. Every time something gets in the way of that pursuit, she’s absolutely determined … to do something, no matter what, to remove that obstacle.”
The Crown, Sex Education, The X-Files, The House of Mirth
Adopted by Fiona alongside his sister Dahlia when they were children, Elias begins to chafe against Fiona’s controlling ways, especially when he realizes how far she’ll go in the name of protecting her family from Constance.
Amidst the roiling blood feud, Elias gets romantically entangled with Constance’s daughter Trish (Aisling Franciosi). “You can set any rules you want about who's on whose side of all of this, but the heart has reasons,” says Keyser. “Trisha and Elias feel something that all the other rules of the world cannot deny and in the end, that can be very dangerous. The world doesn’t treat well people who cross over lines that are dotted instead of solid, and they run the risk of that.”
Maid, A Teacher, Love, Simon, Jurassic World
Disgusted by the Van Nesses’ efforts to drive her family out of the Hollow, Dahlia isn’t afraid to stand up to the more powerful clan. She soon taps into the same rage and defiance that energizes Fiona — and over the season, she undergoes a complicated transformation.
In the beginning, says Keyser, “She’s lost her father, she traveled across the continent, she lived with relative deprivation in a very difficult place, but once we get into the actual plot of these episodes, the way she’s treated by life — by the Van Nesses — it hardens her in a way that I suppose one needs to be hardened.” But whether she becomes too hardened by the events of the series remains to be seen. “On the one hand, it’s the story of growing up and coming into one’s own and finding one’s power, and the ability to protect oneself,” says Keyser, “and at the same time coldness, and that can only come from understanding truly what cards you might be dealt in life.”
Booksmart, Space Force, Lonely Planet
The protective yet cool-headed backbone of Fiona’s family, Albert is a natural leader, amassing allies around his siblings in the war against the Van Nesses. “[Albert and Lilla Belle] take turns being a older brother or sister, even though Elias is actually the oldest,” says Keyser. “They're a complex, interesting family.”
The Last of Us, Brother
Unwaveringly determined and fiercely loyal, Lilla Belle may be small in stature but isn’t afraid to leap into a brawl to defend her family. As the series unfolds, her history of trauma and resilience rises to the surface.
Hail Mary, Promised Land
The younger Van Ness son is the anointed heir to the family business, but quickly grows tired of Constance’s refusal to fully let him in on how she’s running things — though he proves he’s also capable of steely cruelty.
X-Men, MacGyver
Alienated from her cold, secretive mother and her business-minded brother Garret, Trish is drawn to Elias as a kindred outsider spirit — though brutality from both sides of the feud keeps her in turmoil, torn between blood loyalty and her own burgeoning sense of justice.
The Nightingale, God’s Creatures, Speak No Evil
Willem is the volatile eldest son of Constance. Entitled and impulsive, his actions — and sudden disappearance — light the powder keg of the already volatile feud between his powerful clan and Fiona’s makeshift family.
The Crossing, Sun Gazer
Constance hires the outlaw Roache to find her missing son Willem — but more and more, she enlists him to do the dirty work of expanding her mining business. His shifting allegiances and unpredictable nature make him a wild card in the battle for Jasper Hollow.
Rebel Moon, Echo 3, Game of Thrones
Jack is Constance’s trusted enforcer — a stoic, capable man who once reported to her late husband, Emmet, but now serves as both her protector and the arms behind her authority. While he’s accustomed to carrying out orders without question, Jack learns that Constance is a different kind of boss than Emmet ever was.
Blood Quantum, Wild Indian
One of the Hollow’s elder settlers, Miles fears that Fiona’s defiance will bring ruin on them all and clings to law and order. His experience and resourcefulness make him an invaluable ally to the Abandons clan, even as he wrestles with ghosts from his past — and toward the end of the series, we learn that there’s no running away from the past for Miles.
Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead
