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Kurt Sutter (born May 5, 1960) is an American screenwriter, director, producer and actor. He worked as a producer, writer and director on The Shield, also appearing on the show as hitman Margos Dezerian. Sutter is also the creator of Sons of Anarchy on FX and writes, produces, directs and performs for the series, where he plays incarcerated club member "Big Otto" Delaney. Sutter spent time with members of an outlaw club in Northern California as research for Sons of Anarchy. Sutter's wife, actress Katey Sagal, is also one of the show's lead characters.

Career

Sutter was hired as a staff writer for the first season of Fox crime drama The Shield in 2002. He made his television writing debut with the episode "Blowback". He appeared in "Blowback" as Armenian mob hitman Margos Dezerian. He co-wrote the episodes "Dragonchasers" and "Two Days of Blood" with fellow staff writer Scott Rosenbaum. He was promoted to story editor for the second season in 2003. He wrote the episodes "Scar Tissue" and "Dead Soldiers". In 2004 he joined the production team in the junior role of co-producer for the third season. He continued to write episodes and scripted "Playing Tight" and "Mum" with series creator and executive producer Shawn Ryan, "Slipknot" solo and "Fire in the Hole" with consulting producer Charles H. Eglee. He reprised his role as Dezerian in the seasons final episodes "All In" and "On Tilt".

He was promoted to supervising producer for the fourth season in 2005. He wrote the episode "Grave" solo. He co-wrote the story for the episode "Judas Priest" with Eglee and also co-wrote the teleplay with Rosenbaum. He co-wrote the story for the season finale "Ain't That a Shame" with Ryan; Ryan co-wrote the teleplay for the episode with co-executive producer Glen Mazzara. Sutter became a co-executive producer for the fifth season in 2006. He wrote the episode "Extraction", co-wrote the episode "Trophy" with Renee Palya and Tony Soltis and co-wrote the season's penultimate episode "Fire in the Hole" with Eglee.

He became an executive producer for the sixth season in 2007. He directed a promotional mini-episode for the sixth season entitled "Wins and Losses". He wrote the sixth season premiere "On the Jones". He co-wrote the episode "Exiled" with Rosenbaum, also now an executive producer. Sutter returned as an executive producer and writer for the seventh and final season in 2008. He wrote the premiere "Coefficient of Drag" and co-wrote the episode "Parricide" with Gary Lennon. At the close of the season he was the series second most prolific writer (after Ryan) having written or co-written 18 episodes in total.

Also in autumn 2008 Sutter created and executive produced a new series for FX entitled Sons of Anarchy. The show centers on the titular motorcycle club in California. He was the series head writer and show runner. Along with the pilot episode he wrote the episodes "Seeds", "Funtown", "The Pull", "Capybara", "The Sleep of Babies" and the season finale "The Revelator". Sutter also directed "The Revelator". He also appeared in the show as incarcerated club member Otto Delaney. He cast his wife Katey Sagal in the starring role of the club's matriarch Gemma Teller. Sutter hired several crew members that he worked with on The Shield including unit production manager and producer Kevin G. Cremin, post production supervisor and producer Craig Yahata and directors Guy Ferland, Stephen Kay, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Paris Barclay, Terence O'Hara and Billy Gierhart. The first season also featured The Shield star Jay Karnes as a recurring special guest star playing ATF Agent Kohn.

He remained show runner and executive producer for the series second season in 2009. He wrote the series premiere "Albification". He co-wrote the episode "Eureka" with Brett Conrad, co-wrote the episode "Gilead" with co-producer Chris Collins, co-wrote the episode "Potlatch" with Misha Green, co-wrote the teleplay for the episode "Service" with co-executive producer Jack LoGiudice from a story by Brady Dahl and Cory Udica, co-wrote the episode "The Culling" with consulting producer Dave Erickson and wrote and directed the season finale "Na Trioblóidí". The second season featured The Shield star Kenny Johnson as a special guest star playing a club member named Kozik.

He returned as show runner and executive producer for the third season in 2010. He wrote the season premiere "SO". He co-wrote the episode "Oiled" with Erickson, now a co-executive producer. He co-wrote the episode "Home" with Liz Sagal, the sister of his wife and the series star Katey Sagal. He co-wrote the episode "Widening Gyre" with co-producer Regina Corrado. He co-wrote the episode "Lochan Mor" with Erickson and Liz Sagal. He wrote the story for the episode "Turas" the teleplay was co-written by Collins (now a producer) and Dahl. He co-wrote the episode "Firinne" with Vaunn Wilmott. He co-wrote the episode "Bainne" with Corrado and Erickson. He wrote the story for the episode "June Wedding"; Collins wrote the teleplay. He once again wrote and directed the season finale, this time entitled "NS" and co-written with Erickson. Sutter also reprised the role of Otto in the finale. Johnson returned as Kozik in the third season.

His future writing projects include Inland Saints, a film slated for director Joel Schumacher at Paramount Pictures. He also is set to make his feature film directing debut with Awaken the Dragon, a noir-style remake of Enter the Dragon.

On December 13, 2010, Deadline announced his involvement with a drama boxing film, Southpaw. Kurt Sutter will begin writing the script immediately, and he will complete a draft by February 2011, before Sutter and his Sons of Anarchy writers begin to plot the fourth season of his series.

Personal life

Sutter married actress Katey Sagal in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home in Los Feliz, California. They welcomed their first child together, daughter Esme Louise, on January 10, 2007. Esme was carried by a surrogate mother.

Filmography

Producer

Year Show Role Notes

2010 Sons of Anarchy Executive producer Season 3

2009 Season 2

2008 Season 1

The Shield Executive producer Season 7

2007 Season 6

2006 Co-executive producer Season 5

2005 Supervising producer Season 4

2004 Co-producer Season 3

2003 Story editor Season 2

2002 Staff writer Season 1

Writer

Year Show Season Episode title Episode Original airdate Notes

2010 Sons of Anarchy 3 "NS" 13 30 November 2010 Co-written with Dave Erickson

"June Wedding" 12 23 November 2010 Story by Sutter, teleplay by Chris Collins

"Bainne" 11 16 November 2010 Co-written with Dave Erickson and Regina Corrado

"Fírinne" 10 9 November 2010 Co-written with Vaun Wilmott

"Turas" 9 2 November 2010 Story by Sutter, teleplay co-written by Chris Collins and Brady Dahl

"Lochan Mor" 8 26 October 2010 Co-written with Dave Erickson and Liz Sagal

"Widening Gyre" 7 19 October 2010 Co-written with Regina Corrado

"Home" 4 28 September 2010 Co-written with Liz Sagal

"Oiled" 2 14 September 2010 Co-written with Dave Erickson

"So" 1 7 September 2010

2009 2 "Na Triobloidi" 13 1 December 2009

"The Culling" 12 24 November 2009 Co-written with Dave Erickson

"Service" 11 17 November 2009 Teleplay co-written with Jack LoGiudice from a story by Brady Dahl and Cori Udica

"Potlatch" 8 27 October 2009 Co-written with Misha Green

"Gilead" 7 20 October 2009 Co-written with Chris Collins

"Eureka" 4 29 September 2009 Co-written with Brett Conrad

"Albification" 1 8 September 2009

2008 1 "The Revelator" 13 26 November 2008

"The Sleep of Babies" 12 19 November 2008

"Capybara" 11 12 November 2008 Co-written with Dave Erickson

"The Pull" 8 22 October 2008 Co-written with Jack LoGiudice

"Fun Town" 3 17 September 2008

"Seeds" 2 10 September 2008

"Pilot" 1 3 September 2008

The Shield 7 "Parricide" 8 21 October 2008 Co-written with Gary Lennon

"Coefficient of Drag" 1 2 September 2008

2007 6 "Exiled" 7 15 May 2007 Co-written with Scott Rosenbaum

"On The Jones" 1 3 April 2007

2006 5 "Of Mice and Lem" 10 14 March 2006 Co-written with Charles H. Eglee

"Trophy" 5 7 February 2006 Co-written with Renee Palya and Tony Soltis

"Extraction" 1 10 January 2006

2005 4 "Ain't That a Shame" 13 14 June 2005 Story co-written with Shawn Ryan, teleplay by Ryan and Glen Mazzara

"Judas Priest" 12 7 June 2005 Story co-written with Charles H. Eglee, teleplay co-written with Scott Rosenbaum

"Grave" 2 22 March 2005

2004 3 "Fire in the Hole" 13 1 June 2004 Co-written with Charles H. Eglee

"Slipknot" 9 4 May 2004

"Mum" 5 6 April 2004 Co-written with Shawn Ryan

"Playing Tight" 1 9 March 2004 Co-written with Shawn Ryan

2003 2 "Scar Tissue" 8 25 February 2003

"Dead Soldiers" 2 14 January 2003

2002 1 "Two Days of Blood" 12 28 May 2002 Co-written with Scott Rosenbaum

"Dragonchasers" 10 14 May 2002 Co-written with Scott Rosenbaum

"Blowback" 5 9 April 2002

Director

Year Show Season Episode title Episode Original airdate Notes

2010 Sons of Anarchy 3 "NS" 13 30 November 2010 Season finale

2009 2 "Na Triobloidi" 13 1 December 2009 Season finale

2008 1 "The Revelator" 13 26 November 2008 Season finale

2007 The Shield 6 "Wins and Losses" 0 15 February 2007 Promotional short for season 6

Actor

Year Show Role Season Episode title Episode Original airdate Notes

2010 Sons of Anarchy Otto 3 "NS" 13 30 November 2010 Uncredited appearance

2009 2 "Na Triobloidi" 13 1 December 2009 Uncredited appearance

"Fa Guan" 9 3 November 2009 Uncredited appearance

"Smite" 5 6 October 2009 Uncredited appearance

"Small Tears" 2 15 September 2009 Uncredited appearance

2008 1 "Better Half" 10 5 November 2008 Uncredited appearance

"Giving Back" 5 1 October 2008 Uncredited appearance

2004 The Shield Margos Dezerian 3 "On Tilt" 15 15 June 2004 Uncredited appearance

"All In" 14 8 June 2004 Uncredited appearance

2002 1 "Blowback" 5 9 April 2002 Uncredited appearance

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After a season 4 full of explosive moments and big events, we still were wondering about the future of Sons of Anarchy and how far it would go past season 5. Well wonder no more. SOA showrunner and creator Kurt Sutter tweeted early this saturday morning some good news that should make fans of SAMCRO smile:

“closed my deal for 3 more years on SOA. no headlines, no pushed schedule, no stealing from paul. thank you FX and 20th for your generosity.”

This may be a slight reference to how Sutter got involved tweeting about the deals that AMC were trying to finalize, extending Mad Men and Breaking Bad for additional seasons while rumors were being spread about Frank Darabont’s departure due to the penny pinching being done on The Walking Dead. Sutter came to the defense of Breaking Bad showrunner Vince Gilligan and then-Walking Dead showrunner Darabont and that Mad Men was being afforded additional support at the expense of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

“Why darabont got fired – weiner. he held AMC hostage, broke their bank, budgets were slashed, shit rolled down hill onto gilligan and frank,”

That’s incredible news to see that Sons of Anarchy will continue as planned in the fall with its fifth season–with Clay still alive–set to premiere in the fall. And theories can begin as to how the series will play out for an additional three seasons. That will make Sons of Anarchy run as long on the FX network for at least as long as The Shield and Rescue Me. Congrats to Kurt and the rest of the Sons of Anarchy cast and crew!

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Earlier this month, "Sons of Anarchy" creator Kurt Sutter and FX revealed that the hit series was renewed for a sixth season, with a seventh season extremely likely to follow. Given the show's continued popularity, the announcement wasn't surprising.

However, Sutter went on to make a very intriguing post on Twitter about a potential "Sons of Anarchy" prequel series. "I informally pitched the 1st 9 idea to FX. We're mulling if/when it would make sense. It would be a much different show."

Although the possible "Sons of Anarchy" prequel series is admittedly just a notion at this point, the early response from fans seems to indicate that there is a real demand to discover the story behind the first 9 members of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle club. Over the course of four seasons, fans have gotten a few tantalizing glimpses of SAMCRO's past. But there's still a lot we don't know.

Only five of the original members of SAMCRO have been portrayed onscreen. Consequently, we have a little bit more to go on about their characters.

JOHN TELLER

The founding father of SAMCRO, John Teller died 15 years before the events of "Sons of Anarchy." Even though John hasn't been around in the flesh, Victor Newmark appeared in photos and flashbacks while Nicholas Guest provided John's voice as his letters and manuscript were revealed to his surviving son, Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam).

From what little we know about John Teller through his manuscript, it seems that he created SAMCRO as an expression of freedom and brotherhood rather than the criminal organization it later became. J.T. was also Gemma's first husband, and they had another son besides Jax, named Thomas, who died at an early age. One of the central mysteries of "Sons of Anarchy" was John Teller's death; which appears to have been caused by both Gemma and Clay Morrow when J.T. tried to pull the club out of the gun trade in 1993.

CLAY MORROW

Although he is one of original nine members of SAMCRO, Clarence 'Clay' Morrow (Ron Perlman) is not considered to be a founding member of the club. Regardless, Clay is easily one of the most important characters in the "Sons of Anarchy" storyline, both through his friendship with J.T. and his later affair with Gemma that led to their eventual marriage following John's death.

From Clay's account, we know that SAMCRO was formed in 1967 and that he served in the Army Airborne in Vietnam from 1969 to 1972. If Sutter goes forward with his prequel series, it would probably begin around the early '70s when Clay returned to Charming and opened the Teller-Morrow auto shop with J.T. Over the years, Clay has done some amazingly reprehensible things and it would be interesting to see the formation of his character and how he became the monster that he is today.

PIERMONT 'PINEY' WINSTON

Among Clay Morrow's latest crimes was the murder of Piney (William Lucking) during the fourth season of "Sons of Anarchy." Piney wanted SAMCRO to remain true to the ideals that he and John Teller had when they founded the club. J.T. and Piney met each other while they were serving in Vietnam and they were both disillusioned by the welcome that they received in their return to the United States. Thus they formed their own society with the Sons of Anarchy.

Piney also brought his son, Opie (Ryan Hurst) into SAMCRO and foremost among the current members, they both fervently believed in what the club used to represent. But in Charming, sometimes dreams die hard.

KEITH MCGEE

For those of you keeping score at home, Keith McGee (Liam O'Neill) is the third member of SAMCRO to be murdered by Clay Morrow, at least that we know about. But in Keith's case, Clay's actions may have been justified.

Keith was a founding member of SAMCRO in the '70s who moved to Belfast and created the Northern Ireland charter group, SAMBEL. Keith's ties to the Real IRA were instrumental in setting up SAMCRO's gun running business. Keith was also married to Maureen Ashby ( Paula Malcomson), after she had given birth to John Teller's daughter, Trinity.

The reason Clay killed Keith is that he betrayed the Sons during their attempt to reclaim Jax Teller's missing son. In response, Clay confiscated Keith's cut and pushed him off of a roof.

LENNY 'THE PIMP' JANOWITZ

Along with Clay, Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz (Sonny Barger) is the last of the first nine still among the living. Lenny may not look like much now, but back in the '70s he was a serious contender for the Mr. Olympia title thanks to his near lifelong obsession with bodybuilding. Lenny was also the third member recruited into SAMCRO by John Teller and Piney.

Lenny is currently serving a life sentence for killing three ATF agents, but back in the day he was said to be a real lady's man, hence his nickname. It sounds like Lenny may have been the Tig (Kim Coates) of his day.

The remaining four members of the first nine all died prior to the start of "Sons of Anarchy." But it has been revealed that Wally Grazer was the fifth member of SAMCRO, thanks in part to his impressive criminal connections in Redwood County. Wally committed suicide in 1986 rather than face a protracted death from cirrhosis of the liver.

Far less is known about Thomas 'Uncle Tom' Whitney, the sixth member of the club and the circumstances of his death are unclear. Although, Thomas is said to have the record for "most stolen anything" among SAMCRO.

Chico Vellenueva was a mechanical genius who first met John Teller and Piney in the late '60s. The circumstances of his death are also unknown, but he was reportedly addicted to speed.

And finally, Otto 'L'il Killer' Moran was found dead in 1985, apparently murdered and left floating in a river. The reason that Otto was called "Lil' Killer" is that he was only about 5'7" tall and yet he was still rumored to have killed a 300lb man with his bare hands during a fight. In other words, it probably would have been a mistake to mess with him.

That wraps up the first nine of SAMCRO, but any potential prequel series still has to deal with at least two other characters from "Sons of Anarchy."

GEMMA MADOCK

The future Gemma Teller Marrow (Katey Sagal) is a Charming native who married John Teller and had two children by him: Jax in 1978 and Thomas in 1984. However, Thomas died when he was six years old thanks to a heart defect passed on from Gemma.

It's also well known that Gemma was devoted to J.T. until something drove them apart and sent J.T. to Belfast, where he began an affair with Maureen Ashby. And while J.T. was away, Gemma and Clay became an item and possibly plotted John's death. Gemma has been SAMCRO's leading old lady almost since the beginning and she certainly doesn't seem eager to give up her position within the club's extended family without a fight.

Also of note, Ernest Darby (Mitch Pileggi) of the Nords once said that he used to be romantically interested in Gemma, perhaps before she met John Teller. That could be among the angles explored in any potential prequel series.

WAYNE UNSER

Wayne Unser (Dayton Callie) has been a long time ally of SAMCRO, both from his days as the Police Chief of Charming and also after his retirement. It's not known how far back his relationship with SAMCRO extends, but he apparently played a role in covering up J.T.'s "accident" in 1993 at the behest of Clay and Gemma. And make no mistake about it, Wayne was a corrupt cop who had few problems working with SAMCRO for mutually beneficial purposes. Regardless of that, Wayne still seems to be a good man who genuinely cares about his town and the people who live there.

At some point, Wayne married a black woman named Della and he eventually had two daughters by her. However, recent events on the show have demonstrated that Wayne has been carrying a torch for Gemma for years. That would almost certainly come up in a prequel series.

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