Now that FX has found its leading man for their Sons of Anarchy spin-off Mayans MC, with JD Pardo coming aboard to play Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes, the cast continues to grow. Into the Badlands star Sarah Bolger has signed on to play another leading role in this highly-anticipated drama series. Production on the pilot episode is said to begin later this month, so this could be the first in a wave of new casting announcements for this spin-off.

Deadline reports that Sarah Bolger is playing Emily, the "beautiful guerra" next door and childhood sweetheart of EZ Reyes. The series centers on EZ, a prospect in the Mayan MC charter on the California/Mexico border. EZ is the gifted son of a proud Latino family, whose American dream was snuffed out by cartel violence. EZ tries to balance his quest for revenge, while trying to earn the respect of the many different women he loves.

The cast also includes Edward James Olmos as EZ Reyes' father Felipe who tries to set his son on a lawful and righteous path. Clayton Cardenas was also recently cast as EZ's brother Angel Reyes, who is a "full patch member" of the Mayans MC Santo Padre chapter and is said to live with the burden of being the "lesser son" in his Mexican family. John Ortiz also stars as Esai "Taino" Osorio, the president of the Mayans MC Santo Padre Charter. Esai is described as a "Mexi-Rican" who was born in the Bronx, before being sent to Oakland. There he lived with his cousin, Marcus Alvarez, founder and National President of Mayans MC. He is also described, "as smart as he is deadly," just like his cousin.

The spin-off was first announced in August 2015, with Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter returning to executive producer and write the pilot episode with Elgin James. It still hasn't been confirmed yet if any of the Mayans characters from Sons of Anarchy will return, with Emilio Rivera, who played the Mayan leader Alvarez in the original series, hinting that his character could return in the series. At the time, there were rumors that the spin-off was actually a prequel, taking place before Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) from SOA was even born, but it has since been confirmed that the show take place in the aftermath of the Sons of Anarchy finale, when Jax Teller was killed.

Kurt Sutter is executive producing Mayans MC with his co-writer Elgin James, with Kurt Sutter also set to direct the Sons of Anarchy spin-off's pilot episode. Sarah Bolger currently stars in the AMC series Into the Badlands, but this report reveals that her casting would not prevent her from returning for a third season of the show, if AMC issues a renewal. The actress is currently shooting the Starz series Counterpart alongside J.K. Simmons, and she has also been cast in the crime thriller feature A Good Woman Is Hard to Find for director Abner Pastoll. She previously starred as Princess Aurora on ABC's Once Upon a Time.