ONTD

Why did you choose To Sir, With Love, the very dated theme song from the 1967 movie of the same name that starred Sidney Poitier?

The period we play with is usually the 60s and the 70s. it’s kind of ironic. And the lyrics are really beautiful, sad, existential. It set a nice tone for the beginning. Katey (Sagal) sang it.

That was quite a special effect when you — as Otto the incarcerated — bit off your tongue and spit it at the window

Yeah, we worked with a prosthetics house on that! My tongue was modeled in a full-on prosthetic. We made a bunch of them so I could do it a few times. I was literally gnawing my teeth to break it. It’s a rubber tongue but the material is hard enough so you have something to chew through. I’ve been saying I don’t want any more arcs for Otto. This way, I won’t have any more lines. He’ll probably still be part of the Tara arc in the new season. He’ll just be scribbling sh– on pads. FX President John Landgraf joked that the only thing left on Otto was his middle finger.

Who knew that you would end season five with some fans actually feeling sorry for Clay!

In doing research on these guys, you discover that guys that don’t die, they don’t get killed off or end up in jail. They sort of burn out. They can’t do another round of the game. I wanted to get Clay to that place. He started off trying to be the old Clay, trying to get back the seat at the table, but when Roosevelt’s wife was killed, it was a turning point. He just couldn’t do it anymore. At the end of the day, he is a survivor. He wants a piece of the pie, which is why he was setting up the gun business. But the only thing he wants is Gemma. He is sincere with that. You kind of wish Jax was like that. All he should want is Tara, to get out. But he’s adopting some of character traits (that Clay used to have).

Did you know for a while that you’d let Tig live to see another season?

The actors live with the reality that they may have to take a bullet. With Opie going away, it was very much in the forefront of the actors’ minds, if their time was coming up. I knew that I wanted to take Tig on this journey. But when Opie went away, I made it clear that no other series regular would be departing this season, just because they worry and make assumptions. They should not have to live with that burden.

That was a nice touch, giving Tig the pit bull.

It was coming full circle, giving him something to love at the end of the season. He lost Dawn in the beginning of the season. I’ve been asked if the dog will be back. It would be back, as long as it’s not too expensive. It may be a facsimile. Or suddenly, it may be a chihuahua.

It was also a great moment when Gemma stood over Jax at his kitchen table and struck the same pose that Tara did at the end of season four.

Sometimes it’s dangerous holding onto those ideas. I didn’t know I would be able to do it, but then we came around to this last episode and I realized I could logically make it happen and have it feel organic. Gemma is a cockroach. She is a survivor!

When will season six pick up? The next day? Months from now?

I traditionally don’t put a lot of time between seasons. My guess is that it will probably start weeks later.

Seems like the door is open for a Jimmy Smits’ comeback.

I would love Jimmy to come back. I wrote it open-ended. We’re in the process of trying to make that happen. It depends on his availability.

Talk about what you accomplished this season.

I love the idea that Jax executed this plan as an outlaw masterfully, almost without a hitch. But everything in his family unraveled and crumbled in regards to the promise he couldn’t keep to Tara. The club has all these external pressures removed … they are out of drugs, guns, RICO has been lifted, they have new business opportunities. And yet internally, the club is more fractured than it’s ever been before. It’s sort of like a reckoning is going to happen.

(Sutter and his writing team will reconvene in early February to begin penning season six).