News of Jax Teller’s revival was major. But if Charlie Hunnam had his way, the Sons of Anarchy surprise would have stayed secret for longer.
“My desire was to keep it as secret as possible, but there were a couple of very tenacious news organizations that had gleaned that we were doing something (laughs), so FX wanted to get out ahead of it,” Hunnam now tells The Hollywood Reporter about last month’s viral announcement about the Sons of Anarchy spinoff.
On Aug. 19, FX announced that Sons of Anarchy, which signed off in 2014 after seven seasons, would be returning with a limited series, with Hunnam reprising his titular role, along with many of the core cast. The news was a head-scratcher for fans who know how the beloved motorcycle gang drama ended — most of the major characters were killed off, including Hunnam’s Jax in an epic finale sendoff.
But it was revealed that the spinoff would actually feature the original cast playing fictionalized versions of themselves, the “real-life brotherhood” heading “on an adventure that is both a love letter to the series and a fun meta twist on what fans think they know.”
The “meta-thriller” brings back original stars Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Kim Coates and Theo Rossi, with additional cast still to be announced. And the announcement included the following logline: “When the cast of Sons of Anarchy reunites at a fan convention after more than a decade, the line between life and art blurs as the fractured brotherhood finds itself up against a real-world threat more dangerous than anything they ever faced in their show.”
While promoting his next season of Monster, Hunnam, who developed the Sons idea with Jonathan Groff, shared more with THR about what FX has called a “bold and inspired” idea and what co-star Coates has described as being smart, wild, funny and dangerous.
“All I can say is that it’s definitely not season eight of Sons of Anarchy,” says the Monster: The Ed Gein Story star, who next returns to that horror franchise with Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, releasing Sept. 17 on Netflix. “It’s the same group of actors,” he added, “but we are all playing ourselves, going on a mad adventure, and coming together after 10 years apart, although maintaining deep friendship in that time.”
Hunnam says the idea came to him in a series of dreams.
“It was an idea that I had; an opportunity to bring that group of people that I absolutely love together. Really born out of me having several dreams over a period of time about us all being back together,” he continued. “Obviously, something in my subconscious was yearning for that experience — to have another creative process with that group of people that I loved. So I wrote something that would allow that to happen. So here we go!”
Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is not involved in the spinoff — though his wife, Sagal, is, and he’s publicly endorsed the project. “I just want folks to know that Charlie came to me when he was in the process of pitching this to the network to ask for my blessing … I gave Charlie my full blessing. I wish nothing but the best for him in this project,” he said, adding, “Watch this motherfucker, because I’ve taken a peek at the script that was perhaps just lying on my wife’s knitting table, and it’s really so well done. I think you’ll dig it. I love Charlie to death, and I think you will have mad love for this project.”
FX Productions and 20th Television will produce the series, which will air on FX and stream on Hulu. Rob Mac, Nicholas Frenkel and Jackie Cohn also executive produce, along with Hunnam and Groff.
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