Sons Of Anarchy's Theo Rossi Calls The Cult Biker Series 'A Family Drama'

You might imagine that a gruelling and graphically violent television series about the internal and external conflicts of an outlaw motorcycle gang would have a fanbase that could be described as 'select'. That's not the case, however, with Sons Of Anarchy. The long-running series, positively Shakespearean in its heightened drama (indeed, series creator Kurt Sutter has stated Hamlet was his inspiration), has die-hard devotees of all ages and genders around the world. But according to Theo Rossi, who has played gang member Juan Carlos 'Juice' Ortiz since the show premiered in 2008, Sons Of Anarchy's biggest fans are Australian.

“A few years ago, a lot of us from the show appeared at ComicCon in San Diego, this huge fan event, and we were lucky enough to have such a fanbase that we got to close out ComicCon in the biggest hall with this enormous audience,” he recalls. “And it felt like 90 per cent of the people there were Australian! Like nearly everyone who got up to ask a question had an Australian accent! I remember saying to the others, 'We have to go to Australia. We have to.' So when this opportunity came up, it was a no-brainer.”

The opportunity he's referring to is Sons Of Anarchy: An Evening With The Cast, a moderated panel conversation and audience Q&A session with Rossi and co-stars Kim Coates, who plays Tig, and Mark Boone Junior, who plays Bobby Elvis. The trio of actors will be hitting all state capitals during their whirlwind tour, the first such Sons Of Anarchy event to take place outside North America.

“We've been all over the United States and done a few things in Canada but this is our first time doing a journey like this,” Rossi explains. “When it turned into a five-city tour, the three of us got even more excited.”

Sons Of Anarchy fans should probably feel excited as well, given the actors seem to have plenty to say and plenty of energy with which to say it. I know from my own experience that speaking with Coates in the past about the show was exhausting in the best possible way (“Oh, yeah, Kim's an atomic bomb,” laughs Rossi), and Rossi is just as effusive about the process of making Sons Of Anarchy and the finished product. He's not only an actor on the show; he's a fan of the show.

“I always hear actors say they don't like watching things they've been in, but for me I love the show so much that I love talking to people about it just as much, just to get the various reactions to what has happened and ideas about where it's going to go.

“I love it because, at the heart of it, it's a family drama. When you peel back the layers and remove the bells and whistles, it's a story that deals with all the things many of us deal with – parents, children, best friends coming and going in your life, love, heartbreak, loss – but under very heightened circumstances. The stakes are higher, that's all.”

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