FX’s Mayans M.C.
ended its five-season ride with a shock-filled series finale.
“I’m ready.”
Clayton Cardenas and JD Pardo in ‘Mayans M.C.'.FX
“You’re the f—ing rat!”
“EZ would not want to be killed by a Son.
That wasn’t going to happen.
JD Pardo in ‘Mayans M.C.'.FX
I want it to be my brother.'”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your first reaction when you read the final script?
JD PARDO:“Wow.”
Clayton Cardenas and JD Pardo in ‘Mayans M.C.'.FX
Time goes by so fast.
It ended the way that we thought it should.
It made sense for the character.
I love playing them, and then I love letting them go.
But this one hung on a little bit.
What, if anything, did you know about EZ and Angel’s fate before you read the script?
I’ve known about the characters for quite some time.
I was like, “Yes.
Yeah, that’s exciting.”
It was important for me to continue to set ourselves apart fromSons of Anarchy.
But yeah, I knew for some time.
It was definitely a secret that I had to keep.
How hard was it to keep that secret?
You know, it’s actually not that tough for me to keep secrets.
I think I’m pretty good at it.
What was your first conversation with Clayton like about the finale?
We were having this conversation before we even started season five because we knew what was going to happen.
That was very important for me.
EZ and Angel have two very pivotal, but also very different, scenes together in this series finale.
How did you prepare for that scene?
It was an emotional day, and it was bittersweet.
And so we had a moment where we were like, “Wow, this is sad.”
We were really locked in.
I was a little surprised that EZ didn’t venture to convince Angel to stay.
Why do you think that is?
Now that it’s all happening, EZ’s like, yeah, go.
It hurts, but it’s the right thing to do.
EZ did not know that he was about to be sabotaged in the Templo.
He didn’t know it.
It was a really fascinating moment for me, because I’ve always been ahead of the character.
And this goes back to not tipping my hand.
We do this for the audience.
I’m thinking about what the audience is going to watch and what we’re delivering to them.
So, I go along with it like, “Yeah.
We should patch our brother in.”
I knew I was going to have problems with that.
If I’m showing it in any way, stop it and let me know.
I will go back and do it again.
I can’t tip it for the audience.
I really can’t."
EZ can talk himself a lot out of a lot of things.
He’s a very smart man.
The whole purpose of EZ this season was that he wanted to die.
He accepted that because that was the only way he would be with his mother.
The loss of EZ’s mom was so profound he died in prison.
He died in that moment when his mom died.
The connection there was so strong.
And there’s finally this full acknowledgement of, “No.
I will only have peace when I go.
There’s nothing for me here.”
And leading up to that moment, EZ is struggling with the fear of physical death.
It’s one thing to say, “That’s where I’ll have my peace.
I’m going to finish putting the Mayans on top and then I’m going to go.”
Then there’s the surprise [ambush] right there at the end.
I was thinking about, can I find this moment where EZ stops fighting?
Can I have a realization where it’s like, “Oh, this is it.
This is the moment.”
And then, as scary as it is, it’s like, “I’m ready.”
you might absolutely see EZ make that transition.
Is it at all a comfort to him that Angel is the one who kills him?
EZ would not want to be killed by a Son.
That wasn’t going to happen.
I want it to be my brother."
We had to wait about a week before we shot that scene.
How am I going to do it?"
Plus, I’m being held [by the neck].
One of the first takes we did, Rocco, who plays Gilly he’s a real dude.
He’s done a lot of law enforcement.
I was like, “Woah.
Hold on, let’s do it again.
Give me a little bit less.”
[laughs] But I think then in that moment, it just clicked.
I was like, “Yeah, this is what I do.
I do this.”
At first, my natural reaction was like, “What?
How could you?”
But once I got away from that, it was, “Oh, yeah.
Life moves on.”
Time doesn’t stop.
It just keeps moving.
As a storyteller, I loved it.
And then here comes Potter and the rest is up to the imagination of the audience.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
