THE ABANDONS EPISODE COUNT EXPLAINED AFTER HUGE NETFLIX SHAKE-UP

The Abandons has just landed on Netflix and the Western drama, featuring a star-studded cast, has already garnered glowing reviews from critics.

Some have even dubbed it "better than Yellowstone", with a nail-biting finale leaving viewers eagerly anticipating a potential second series. The plot centres around two families - The Abandons and the Van Nesses - led by Fiona Nolan (portrayed by Lena Headey) and Constance Van Ness (Gillian Anderson).

Set in the 1850s, the drama delves into the disputes between these two factions during the Old West era, with Fiona fiercely defending the land she's painstakingly cultivated.

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She finds herself at odds with the Van Ness family as they endeavour to seize her property. Here's everything you need to know about the number of episodes in the series.

The series comprises seven episodes, all of which were released simultaneously on December 4.

This is somewhat out of the ordinary for Netflix, as its shows typically consist of either eight or 10 episodes.

Back in October 2022, Netflix commissioned screenwriter and director Kurt Sutter for a ten-part series order for the period action drama.

However, a couple of years later, it was reported that Sutter departed the show with a few weeks of shooting remaining.

By this stage, the series length had been reduced from 10 episodes to seven, with six episodes having completed filming.

Executive producers Otto Bathurst and Rob Askins stepped in to oversee the remainder of the filming, including any reshoots.

Deadline reported at the time: "The departure is believed to stem from creative differences over the direction of the big-scale production as it is wrapping filming and headed into post.

"I hear an alarm went off at Netflix when the initial cut of the dense first episode, which sets the scene and introduces the large group of main characters, came in at one hour and 40 minutes.

"Cutting that down to an hour proved impossible, so a decision was made for the episode, written by Sutter and directed by Bathurst, to be split into two.

"That required creating a cliffhanger in the middle of the episode with additional scenes on both ends to wrap the premiere and kick off episode two."

The publication continued: "Because of across-the-board budget cuts at Netflix and other networks and streamers, the order to The Abandons, originally announced as 10 episodes, had been trimmed to eight and subsequently seven episodes."

The Abandons is available on Netflix.

2025-12-04T10:28:37Z