Trivia / Sons of Anarchy

• Acting for Two:
  • Mario Perez played a Calavera on Season 3, a Lobos Sonora gunman on Season 4, and a Byz Lat on Season 5 and 6.
  • Not within this show but within the shared universe of SOA and Mayans M.C.; Joe Ordaz plays an unnamed Mayan who is shot in the throat by Clay in the pilot episode of Sons. In Mayans, he plays Paco, an enforcer of Miguel Galindo and friend of Alvarez, who is shot in the throat by Galindo for his perceived failures. Also doubles as Actor Allusion.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Tommy Flanagan's real-life nickname is "Chibs," which is Scottish slang for "street blade." Kurt Sutter apparently found out and used it for the character.
• Actor Leaves, Character Dies:
  • Half Sack was intended to be around the entire series. He was only killed off because Johnny Lewis wanted to leave the show.
  • Likewise, Hale was supposed to be around much longer than he ended up being. He was only killed off so abruptly because Hale's actor was considering leaving the show, so Sutter wrote two story lines. The actor ended up deciding to stay, but because Sutter liked the plot where his character died so much, they filmed that one anyways. Taylor Sheridan's career has managed to soldier on.
• The Cast Showoff: Katey Sagal has worked as a professional singer. She provides vocals for several songs used in the show.
• Cast the Expert:
  • David LaBrava (Happy) and Rusty Coones (Rane Quinn) are real life Hells Angels. Coones is a professional bike builder and built one for Kurt Sutter that was auctioned off for charity.
  • Chuck Zito (Frankie Diamonds) is also a real Hells Angel. In fact, he was president of the New York chapter.
  • Sonny Barger (Lenny Janowitz) is not only a real Hells Angel, but he is also the founding member of Oakland, one of its initial charters, and at one point was its president. He moved to Arizona in 1998 and became a member of the Cave Creek charter, which was sprouted from a patch-over of the Dirty Dozen MC in 1997.
• Cast Incest: Nero and Carla, played by Jimmy Smits and his partner Wanda De Jesus. She's later revealed to be not only a Clingy Jealous Girl for him with an unrequited crush, but his half-sister.
• Casting Gag: Somewhat, but in the Japanese dub of the series, Jax is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, who previously voiced Takakura Kojuro from Sengoku Basara, who is the Number Two of Date Masamune, whose design is heavily based in a typical Japanese Delinquent and Masamune has a horse that looks like a bike, and that without going into the point Kojuro himself speaks like a gangster and acts like a Yakuza.
• Creator Backlash: Kurt Sutter came up with the idea of a big Sons guide that would go into detail about all the episodes. It ended up being released and sent to fans a week before the final episode, spoiling the ending. Feeling it was a long time since he called someone a (^~+ Sutter went on a Cluster F-Bomb rant where he promised fans a basket full of heads of those responsible, asked those spoiled not to air their views online and given the book was his idea took the blame for what happened.
• The Danza: Courtney Love — born Courtney Harrison — plays the teacher Ms. Harrison.
• Descended Creator:
  • Kurt Sutter plays a recurring character in Big Otto, going uncredited as an actor.
  • The tattoo artist who aids the Sons in Season 2 is played by Freddy Corbin, an acclaimed tattoo artist who actually helped design the SOA patch itself.
• Dueling Shows: A very narrowly averted example. Right around the same time Sons was being produced, HBO had a show titled 1% in the pipeline. The show would have starred Donal Logue as Misfit, a biker who is forced to move to another charter after they start trouble for the club. Sutter himself, on the "SutterInk" blog, voiced approval for the show. A pilot was filmed, but the show never made it to the airwaves, since Sonny Barger sued HBO for turning to Michael Tolkin to write it and trying to cut him out, even though both men had pitched the show together. Additionally, Barger's lawsuit stated that the script depicted characters too closely resembling living persons and locations too identifiable with the Hells Angels. The suit was successful and the show never saw the light of day, aside from a script that can be found online and a Vimeo video with a few clips from one of the stars, which is no longer available for viewing.
• Fake American:
  • Jax and Tig. Charlie Hunnam is from Newcastle, UK, while Kim Coates is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
  • Jeff Wincott, playing the Italian-American Jimmy Cacuzza, is Canadian.
• Fake Irish: Jimmy O'Phelan and most of the rest of the Irish characters in season 3.
• Fake Nationality: Adam Arkin, who plays white separatist Ethan Zobelle, is Jewish. It's unlikely he would be welcomed by most white nationalists.
• Fake Russian: American actor Keith Szarabajka, an American of Polish descent, plays a Russian gangster in a few episodes of seasons three and four.
• Orphaned Reference: Juice's name is this, as the character was originally portrayed as an amped-up speed freak in the original pilot. Nothing of this characterization remains in the final show, although Juice trying to commit suicide via pills could be a reference to it.
• Playing Against Type:
  • The prostitute Emma Jean is portrayed by Ashley Tisdale (who had previously been known as a Disney Channel teen actress).
  • Tom Arnold, known mainly for comedic roles, plays a sleazy pornographer and murderer.
  • Courtney Love as a kindergarten teacher.
  • Lea Michele as a waitress in a greasy spoon in season 7.
• Real-Life Relative: Donal Logue (Lee Toric)'s real life sister plays his murdered sister on the show.
• Star-Making Role: For Charlie Hunnam, Ryan Hurst, Theo Rossi and Kim Coates.
• Stunt Casting:
  • Walton Goggins of The Shield and Justified has a small part as the transsexual escort Venus Van Damme. Made even more amazing by the fact that it was completely kept secret until the episode aired, to the extent of pushing Goggins' on-screen credit to the end of the ep. Even the name choice was great, as his character on The Shield twice used "Cletus Van Damme" as an alias.
  • Marilyn Manson as a white supremacist prisoner in season seven.
  • Courtney Love as Abel's teacher in season seven.
  • Peter Weller of RoboCop fame as a corrupt cop who only cares about money.
  • David Hasselhoff makes a single-episode cameo as a porn star-turned-director in Season 4.
• What Could Have Been: Lots of examples.
  • Lowell Harland Jr. was supposed to have a much bigger role.
  • Half-Sack was originally supposed to have a larger role as well, but his actor left the show after two seasons because he was uncomfortable with the level of violence.
  • Very, very early in the development of the story, Tara was intended to be Clay's daughter.
  • Emilio Rivera played a SAMCRO member named Hawk, who was a precursor to Tig. Alvarez was invented so Rivera could play him instead. On another cast related note, Clay was originally played by Scott Glenn. You can still see footage of them in the pilot episode, when the boys are running away from the warehouse explosion. On a more minor note, screenshots from the pilot indicate that Juice originally sported a full head of hair.
  • Opie was supposed to be killed off in the first season.
  • Jury and the Indian Hills charter were intended to appear more over the years, but for some reason disappeared after their first appearance, only to reappear once in season six before being a major plot point in the final season.
  • Wendy was supposed to die in the pilot episode originally. After this was changed, she was supposed to appear again, but according to Sutter during an after show, the actress couldn't come back until season four due to her pregnancies.
  • Lee Toric was intended to be the main antagonist of season six and be on the run for all of season seven. His shakes would have been explained as an effect of Huntington's Disease, which Tara would realize he had during one of his visits to her, and use the fact to her advantage. Donal Logue's busy schedule meant that Toric had to be killed off much earlier than expected.
  • According to Ron Perlman, Clay was supposed to survive until the very end and even get a redemption arc.
  • Kozik was also supposed to be around longer, but Kenny Johnson left to do another TV show. Originally it was intended to just have his character transfer out, but the writers opted to kill him off instead. Pity, since the show Johnson left to be part of ended up being cancelled not long after.
  • As revealed by Sutter in a few Tweets in March 2020, the club was originally going to be called "The Zealots," but Sutter changed his mind because the name had too much of a religious vibe. Additionally, the show was supposed to be called "Forever Sam Crow," because Sutter felt naming the show after the club would be too obvious. But soon after the pilot was finished a letter from a lawyer representing a club arrived saying that the MC owned the rights to the saying "Forever *Insert MC Name*".

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