Comic-Con Season Six Sons of Anarchy Preview: Fans, We’ll See a New Side of Juice

The Sons of Anarchy cast has become a fan favorite at the San Diego Comic-Con. I had an interesting discussion with Theo Rossi about the journey his character has undergone in the last two seasons of SOA but more importantly, how the consequences of those events appear to be about to intensify during season six.

How is Juice doing next season? “I think Juice finds himself in an extremely strange position but just like anything in life, I think everybody has a breaking point. But, we’re going to see how instrumental he was in putting Clay (Ron Perlman) away and fulfilling Jax’s (Charlie Hunnam) plan—what that does to him psychologically. I think it’s pretty fascinating the way Kurt [Sutter] manipulates all these situations. Every single script feels like a finale this year because we’re at the other side.”

Excited about Comic-Con, Rossi professed his love for Comics: “I’m a psychotic comic fan. I would love to see who they’re going to put for Batman.”

Is it starting to feel as if the end is near? “The Opie (Ryan Hurst) episode [season five, episode 13] kind of started that train rolling. We’re not going to run forever; we’re not ‘One Life to Live.’ This is eventually going to, like, end. It’s like every script is so intense and yet, at the same time, the one thing that he does so well, there is humor in them all. There is funny stuff that rears its head all time because in the madness and in the intensity comes this humor, which usually happens in these dire situations. I’m really lucky as the character Juice; I’ve been able to play kind of every emotion. I’ve been the funny guy, I’ve been the sad guy, the aggressive guy, and now we see this whole new kind of side of him.”

Rossi had more to say and clearly, the death of Opie and the consequent departure of Hurst from the cast has been hard on everyone. “Ryan is one of my boys so when I found out – when we all found out – it was one of those things…we’re all there 14-16 hours, every day, six months a year and in the off season, we all hang out. It was that moment I said, ‘Oh well, that is how it goes down. I’m not going to have the Mohawk forever; I’m actually going to have to have hair.’ It was one of those things because you get caught up, man. You don’t realize we started this journey in ’08; it’s 2013. You realize things go. Time keeps moving. So, I think the Opie thing was almost a reality check in a way.”

Realizing the show is coming to an end, Rossi showcased his characteristic great sense of humor: “I’m not going to have the Mohawk forever; I’m actually going to have to have hair.”

Do you get an advance warning about what will happen to your character each season? “Kurt is so great with giving everybody a heads up and taking meetings, and kind of gives you the general layout. Obviously, not the specifics, because every script is not written but kind of, you get the overall arc of what is going to go down. I love when actors say ‘My character’; it’s not your character. Kurt created the character, I play the character. I never trusted a writer or somebody as much as I trust him. Whatever he writes, he knows it and again, I’ve been super lucky. I’ve kind of gone all over the map with this character. So whatever he does is fantastic and this season, this is probably the most exciting for people to see the trajectory of Juice, and kind of the whole deal.”

Juice and Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) – can you tell us how things are between them? “I love the Eli character; I love Rockmond too, as a person. He’s a great dude. We’ve been really lucky because I think he’s sympathetic towards Juice and I think he knows, maybe, slightly of the struggle in season five. To see that kind of stuff get involved in this season, there’s a lot that goes on in this season and we’re in the middle of it.”

Having learned the premiere is expected to be 90 minutes long, I asked Rossi if he knew how many of these longer episodes fans should expect? He chuckled before answering: “I feel like all of them are like three hours. I feel every episode is like Avatar, very long – three hours long.”

Rossi always showcases a great sense of humor and personality but like he indicated, time keeps moving and our time was up. Speaking of time flying by, we’re only seven weeks away from the Sons of Anarchy season six premiere. From the sounds of it, Juice has a rough road ahead of him. Let’s hope Juice makes it out alive this season!

Sons of Anarchy will return to FX on September 10, 2013 at 9:00pm EST in a special 90-minute episode.

To learn more about the show, visit: http://www.fxnetworks.com/soa and http://www.sutterink.com/.

To check out Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy video channel on YouTube, go to http://www.youtube.com/sutterinksoa.

Follow @sonsofanarchy, @sutterink, and @FXNetworks, and tweet using the hashtag #SOAFX.

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Soaker of life. I like to experience things and see the world. I consider myself a professional traveler. My love for movies and television goes way back but I'm a sucker for action-oriented films and shows. Oh, and I make excellent martinis! Follow me on twitter @LutzElle.