Sons of Anarchy was an unusual TV series because the showrunner was also a member of the cast…right up until he killed himself off in brutal fashion. Kurt Sutter played Otto – a character who was thoroughly put through the ringer during the 20 episodes he appeared in. He lost his wife, and even his eye and tongue (!) by the time he was dispatched once and for all.
In a 2013 interview with Vulture, Sutter expressed no regrets about killing Otto off. “What ends up happening is, as much as I enjoy acting, it’s much better in the beginning of the season, when we’re breaking a story, than it is in the later days when I’m overwhelmed and suddenly have to sit in the makeup chair for an hour and a half putting on that fucking eye.”
“So right now there’s not a lot of remorse or nostalgia. But I’m sure at some point next season I’ll be like, Awwww. I’ve got nothing to do! But, it was fun. Ultimately, that guy could just not keep killing people in jail and not take a handful of bullets.”
“This is what these guys — what their souls — essentially look like. And I think having him come to an end this season is somewhat telling in terms of the arc of the season and what’s going on with Jax. [Otto] always represented that to me, what the life potentially brings you. And there’s really just a lot of sorrow. Once [his wife] Luann was gone, there was really nothing for Otto to hold on to, and that’s really when the slide began.” It sounds as though Sutter did what was based for the character and the drama series as a whole.
Of course Otto was far from the only character killed off by the end of the series in 2014, including main character Jax (Charlie Hunnam). A spin-off series about Jax’s sons has been mooted. In the meantime, check out our guide to Mayans MC season 5.
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