Netflix's New Western Series With Game Of Thrones Star Can Only Get Better After Becoming Global Hit

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Felipe Rangel is a Superheroes Lead Writer and Reviewer at ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021, with a focus on superhero projects. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Since the launch of the Superheroes vertical in 2023, he has focused his efforts on coming up with insightful analyses of Marvel and DC's projects.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Netflix's latest Western series quickly became a global hit, and the show could only improve if it returns for season 2 for a very simple reason. After Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone franchise established itself with the flagship show and multiple Yellowstone prequel/sequel series, the Western genre is living through a renaissance period, and I'm glad that studios are making the most of it.

Western TV shows have become popular on many streaming services, with more genre movies also emerging in the last few years. Netflix has understood the impact this Western boom can have on the streamer, ordering several Western series for its subscribers to enjoy. One of Netflix's exciting recent TV shows is a Western that could be even better in season 2.

The Abandons Is Netflix's Latest Hit Western Series

Netflix has a solid roster of Western series that have performed well for the streamer. That list includes the likes of American Primeval, which was a bloody and brutal story about traversing the country, and Territory, an Australian neo-western that presents another family dynasty, like Yellowstone. More recently, in December 2025, Netflix released The Abandons.

The 7-episode first season of the Netflix Western was released on December 4, 2025. The series focuses on two families in the 1850s, both led by women, which is uncommon for the genre and makes the show a fresh entry in a booming genre. Fiona Nolan, played by Game of Thrones' Lena Headey, leads a family of orphans.

Headey's character finds her opposite in the form of Gillian Anderson's Constance Van Ness, the matriarch of a wealthy family from the mining segment. The Abandons puts both completely different families against one another over land, a common Western trope, as the wealthy Van Ness family tries to push out Fiona's group.

The Abandons' cast also includes Lucas Till (MacGyver), Nick Robinson (Jurassic World), Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy),

Michiel Huisman (Game of Thrones), and more.

Why The Abandons Can Only Get Better In Season 2

Lena Headey sits astride a horse on a Western street in a scene from The Abandons

The Abandons season 1 is not without its flaws, but the show puts a fresh spin on classic Western tropes and features a talented ensemble that succeeds in anchoring Netflix's hit series in grounded emotion. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Abandons has a negative 30% critics' score, with its audience score not being much better, at a low 52%.

The Abandons was the 4th most-watched TV show on Netflix worldwide in the week of its release.

Still, there is a lot of room to improve. After all, the Netflix series lost its creator, Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy), before production ended. That led to uneven length for the episodes and more issues. Still, the door is open for The Abandons season 2 to be even better if it sticks to a single showrunner. After becoming a global hit, The Abandons can be better with stability.